EXCHANGE 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES  IN  ENGLISH 


MATHEW  CAREY 


COLUMBIA 

UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

SALES  AGENTS 

NEW   YORK  : 

LEMCKE  &  BUECHNER 
30-32  WEST  27TH  STREET 

LONDON : 

HENRY  FROWDE 
AMEN  CORNER,  E.G. 

TORONTO  : 

HENRY  FROWDE 
25  RICHMOND  STREET,  W. 


MATHEW   CAREY 

EDITOR,  AUTHOR  AND  PUBLISHER 

A  STUDY  IN  AMERICAN  LITERARY  DEVELOPMENT 


BY 

EARL  L.  BRADSHER 


SUBMITTED  IN  PARTIAL  FULFILMENT   OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS  FOR 

THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY,  IN  THE  FACULTY 

OF  PHILOSOPHY,  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


NEW  YORK 

191  2 


Copyright,  1912 
BY  THE  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

Printed  from  type  January,  1912 


Mtll  OF 

I  C»A   PftlNTIMa  COMPAWf 
LANCAITCM.    PA 


This  Monograph  has  been  approved  by  the  Department  of  Eng  - 
lish  and  Comparative  Literature  in  Columbia  University  as  a  contri 
bution  to  knowledge  worthy  of  publication. 

A.  H.  THORNDIKE, 

Secretary . 


254399 


PREFACE 

Mathew  Carey,  the  subject  of  this  study,  after  a  lapse  of  three 
quarters  of  a  century,  has  survived  in  chronological  outlines 
and  literary  histories  as  the  author  of  a  History  of  the  Yellow 
Fever,  The  Olive  Branch,  and  of  numerous  works  on  political 
economy  and  a  bewildering  variety  of  subjects  that  defy  classi 
fication.1  As  such  he  is  not  unworthy  of  study  by  the  dose 
student  of  American  literature  and  history;  but  were  he  note 
worthy  as  an  author  alone,  an  essay,  rather  than  a  monograph, 
would  probably  be  his  due.  Carey's  real  claim  to  consideration 
is  as  a  publisher,  and,  to  a  lesser  extent,  editor,  and  author.  Our 
young  civilization  of  a  century  ago,  whether  within  the  sound 
of  the  Atlantic  or  on  that  shifting  belt  known  vaguely  as  the 
frontier  needed  a  medium  thru  which  literature  could  reach  it 
in  order  that  it  might  outgrow  its  provincialness  and  painful 
self  consciousness.  America  itself  was  largely  adequate,  under 
proper  stimulus,  to  produce  a  literature ;  and  any  omi< 


could  easily  be  filled  from  the  mature  literatures  of  Europe. 
Such  a  medium  and  such  a  stimulus  Mathew  Carey,  better 
than  any  one  else  in  this  country,  supplied  for  over  half  a 
century.  At  this  formative  period  he  was  able  to  direct  the 
taste  of  his  public  in  a  way  not  in  the  slightest  degree  possible 
for  the  publisher  of  today  when  the  multiplicity  of  publishing 
houses,  of  authors,  and  of  already  developed  tastes  defies  any 
attempt  at  control.  From  1785  to  1817  Carey  was  the  sole 
owner,  and  from  1817  to  1824  he  was  actively  at  the  head  of 
the  greatest  publishing  and  distributing  firm  in  this  country,2 

1  The  titles  of  his  books,  pamphlets,  and  speeches  •ccayj  four  pages  of 
notes  and  seven  of  text  in  the  Bibliotkeca  Americana. 

*  The  titles  of  the  various  firms  of  which  he  was  the  founder  or  fore 
runner  were  as  follows:  Mathew  Carey.  1787-1817:  M.  Carey  &  Son.  1817- 
1821;  M.  Carey  &  Sons,  1821-1824:  Carey  &  Lea  1824.  Subsequently 
Edward  L.  Carey,  a  son  of  Mathew  Carey,  was  admitted.  The  business 
was  divided  in  1829  when  Henry  C  Carey  and  Isaac  Lea  (afterward  Carey, 
Lea  &  Blanchard,  and  then  Lea  &  Blanchard)  formed  a  firm  as 

Tii 


viii 

and  tho  his  formal  connection  with  the  house  ended  in  the 
latter  year  there  is  no  doubt  that  thru  his  sons  he  was  influen 
tial,  in  its  conduct  until  a  much  later  period.  Fortunately  all 
the  documents  relating  to  his  business  from  1787  to  1823  are 
preserved,  and  they  form  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  valu 
able  sources  of  information  on  the  publishing  business  in 
America. 

Since  it  is  very  largely  upon  these  documents  that  the  pres 
ent  study  is  based  the  question  naturally  arises,  How  far  can 
the  business  of  these  firms  be  regarded  as  typical  of  that  of 
the  entire  country  and  how  far  do  their  publications  and  their 
sales  of  the  books  of  other  publishers  represent  the  tastes  of 
the  reading  public  as  a  whole  and  not  merely  those  of  a  section 
or  class?  The  reasons  for  believing  it  to  be  typical,  and  there 
fore  of  value  in  enabling  one  accurately  to  trace  the  develop 
ment  of  literary  culture  in  America  are  numerous.  It  repre 
sents  all  phases  of  the  business  of  the  largest  firm  in  Philadel 
phia,  the  acknowledged  literary  center  of  America  during 
most  of  the  period  covered  by  this  study.  There  was  little 
or  no  specialization  of  publication  as  yet;  so  that  when 
we  examine  the  publications  of  Carey  (and  of  his  successors) 
we  may  be  fairly  sure  that  no  other  publisher  is  issuing  a 
radically  different  class  of  books.  We  feel  that  this  must  be 

exclusively,  continued  to  the  present  day  as  Lea  &  Febriger,  two  members 
of  the  firm  being  Mathew  Carey's  great-grandchildren.  When  the  firm  was 
divided  Edward  L.  Carey  and  Abram  Hart  formed  the  firm  of  Carey  & 
Hart.  With  them  we  are  not  concerned.  The  account  books  begin  Janu 
ary  i,  1787;  the  correspondence  received,  1788.  The  correspondence  sent 
out  is  very  irregularly  kept,  or,  an  assumption  that  is  probably  more  just 
to  the  various  firms,  has  subsequently  been  misplaced.  By  a  careful  esti 
mate  the  number  of  volumes  is  510.  Of  this  number  145  volumes,  quarto, 
are  letters  received,  forty  are  copies  of  those  sent  out.  The  remaining  325 
volumes  are  made  up  of  account  books,  day  books,  journals,  receipt  books, 
stock  books,  warehouse  books,  exchange  lists,  subscription  lists,  memo 
randum  books,  bills  of  lading,  and  all  other  material  necessary  to  a  com 
plete  business  record.  Between  1823  and  1854  there  is  a  gap  in  the 
record.  By  chance,  however,  three  volumes  of  letters  sent  out  have  sur 
vived  covering  the  two  periods  of  June  17,  1834  to  August  6,  1837,  and 
January  2,  1841,  to  June  10,  1842.  After  1854.  the  firm,  then  known  as 
Lea  &  Blanchard,  published  medical  books  almost  exclusively. 


the  correct  conclusion  when  we  examine  the  exchange  lists 
and  notices  of  forthcoming  publications  which  were  sent  out 
by  various  firms.  The  general  class  is  always  the  same,  and 
even  the  titles  have  a  striking  uniformity.  The  general  nature 
and  purpose  of  other  firms  was,  then,  very  similar.  As  there 
is  no  great  number  of  inquiries  for  books  not  kept  on  hand,  it 
it  a  logical  inference  that  the  scope  of  the  reading  of  the  entire 
country  fell  fairly  well  within  the  limits  of  the  literature  dis 
seminated  by  the  firm  in  question,  for  the  wide  distribution  of 
its  business —  from  Castine,  Maine,  in  the  north  to  St.  Louis  and 
New  Orleans  on  the  west  and  south — indicates  that  the  general 
demands  of  the  country  could  be  supplied.  In  any  case  the 

{business  must  be  typical  of  a  large  part  of  the  south,  for  the 
firm  was  so  well  established  there  that  it  had  no  formidable 
competitor.  The  intense  rivalry  of  a  later  period  for  the 
works  of  British  authors  shows  that  a  large  number  of  pub 
lishers  were  on  the  lookout  for  similar  works. 

The  subject  of  this  monograph  was  suggested  by  Professor 
W.  P.  Trent  of  Columbia  University,  under  whom  it  was  my 
privilege  to  study  for  almost  three  years.  I,  least  of  all, 
should  be  inclined  to  underestimate  the  breadth  and  the  cathol 
icity  of  judgment  that  so  strikingly  characterize  the  scholar 
ship  of  Professor  Trent  and  that  are  so  abidingly  felt  by  every 
student  who  has  come  under  his  influence,  but  it  is  above  all 
as  a  personal  friend  that  I  wish  here  to  express  my  gratitude 
to  him. 

I  feel  also  that  I  am  deeply  indebted  to  Mr.  Charles  M.  Lea, 
of  Lea  and  Febiger,  Publishers,  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Lea  has 
in  charge  the  documents  without  which  this  study  could  not 
have  been  brought  to  completion.  He  has  met,  with  a  cheer 
ful  courtesy  which  it  is  a  pleasure  to  acknowledge,  every  de 
sire  of  mine  regarding  the  material  at  his  disposal.  To  his 
father,  the  late  Henry  C.  Lea,  whose  name  is  known  to  every 
student  of  history,  I  am  under  obligations  for  having  read  the 
manuscript  and  having  made  several  valuable  additions.  It 
is  in  this  same  connection  that  one  of  my  most  direct  obliga 
tions  to  Professor  Trent  is  due.  There  are  few  pages  that 
have  not  been  bettered  by  his  suggestions.  The  manuscript 


has  been  read,  also,  by  Professor  Brander  Matthews  and  Pro 
fessor  A.  H.  Thorndike  of  Columbia  University,  and  by  Pro 
fessor  C.  N.  Greenough  of  Harvard  University,  to  all  of 
whom  I  am  under  obligations  for  suggestions.  Mr.  Henry 
Carey  Baird  of  Philadelphia  and  Mr.  Albert  Matthews  of 
Boston  have  given  me  pamphlets  of  value  bearing  upon  the 
subject. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     The  First  Steps :  Journalist  and  Editor i 

II.  Material  Conditions  of  Publishing  and  Distributing 
at  the  End  of  the  Eighteenth  and  the  Beginning 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century 13 

III.  The  Dependence  upon  Europe 29 

IV.  The  Growing  Feeling  of  Nationalism  and  the  Rise 

of  American  Literature 49 

V.  The  Struggle  of  American  Literature  against  the 
Exploitation  of  Foreign  Authors  by  American 

Publishers 79 

Appendixes 114 

Bibliography  136 

Index   140 


MATHEW  CAREY 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  FIRST  STEPS:  JOURNALIST  AND  EDITOR 

Mathew  Carey  was  born  in  Dublin,  January  28,  I76O,1  of 
well-to-do  parents.  His  education  was  that  of  the  average 
boy  of  his  time  and  circumstances.  Unlike  most  boys  however 
he  had  very  early  decided  upon  the  trade  which  he  wished  to 
follow.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  book 
seller.  This  was  accomplished  thru  his  own  efforts;  for  his 
father,  while  offering  him  the  choice  of  any  other  of  the 
twenty-five  corporations  in  Dublin,  refused  to  aid  him  in  his 
resolution  to  become  a  printer  and  bookseller.  In  this  posi 
tion  he  had  ample  chance  to  satisfy  his  omnivorous  appetite 
for  reading,  and  the  desire,  not  less  strong,  it  seems,  to  rush 
into  print.  His  first  essay  as  a  writer,  at  about  the  age  of 
seventeen,  was  a  severe  condemnation  of  duelling,  in  a  news 
paper  article  in  the  Hibernian  Journal  in  1777.  Years  after 
in  America  he  was  to  give  a  "  practical  illustration  of  the  text." 

1  The  published  accounts  of  the  life  of  Carey  are  very  few  in  number. 
Those  given  below  are  all  that  I  have  been  able  to  find. 

American  Bookseller,  The,  Vol.  XVII,  No.  3,  New  York,  Feb.  i,  1885. 
Editorial  Contributions  to  the  Trade  History — Number  One.  The  Carey- 
Baird  Centenary,  January  25,  1885.  Memoir  of  Mathew  Carey,  Founder  of 
the  House,  by  Henry  Carey  Baird,  with  a  reproduction  of  "  Carey's  Penn 
sylvania  Evening  Herald  "  and  Portrait  of  M.  Carey,  pp.  59-64. 

Autobiographical  Sketches,  in  a  Series  of  Letters  Addressed  to  a  Friend, 
Philadelphia,  1829.  i2mo,  pp.  xvi  -f-  156.  This  was  afterwards  republished 
in  The  New  England  Magazine  (July,  1833,  to  December  1834,  the  install 
ments  beginning  as  follows :  V,  p.  404,  489 ;  VI,  60,  93,  227,  306,  400  ; 
VII,  61,  145,  239,  320,  401,  481). 

Historical  Sketches  of  Some  of  the  Pioneer  Catholics  of  Philadelphia 
and  Vicinity,  by  Joseph  Willcox  (a  pamphlet  without  date  or  place  of  publi 
cation  containing  51  pages  of  text  and  10  of  plates  at  the  end),  pp.  17-20. 
2  1 


That  intense  love  of  country  and  of  humanity,  which  was 
to  win  him  the  affection  and  respect  of  so  many  thousands  in 
his  adopted  country,  was  very  early  shown  in  a  pamphlet 
written  in  I7792  in  defense  of  his  oppressed  fellow  Irish  Cath 
olics.  Self  interest  and  a  propitiatory  attitude  towards  official 
dom  were  never  at  any  time  strong  features  of  his  character. 
Very  naturally,  then,  in  dealing  with  so  delicate  a  subject  as 
"  The  urgent  necessity  of  an  immediate  repeal  of  the  whole 
Penal  Code  against  the  Roman  Catholics,"  the  ardent  youth 
raised  such  a  storm  in  governmental  circles  that  his  cooler 
headed  friends  thought  best  to  ship  him  off  to  Passy,  a  village 
near  Paris.  Here  the  one  extreme  of  character  met  the  other: 
unhesitating  impulsiveness  and  shrewd  worldly  knowledge 
•  came  into  contact,  when  Carey  was  engaged  by  Benjamin 
'  Franklin  to  reprint  his  dispatches  from  America.  After  a  few 
months  Franklin  no  longer  had  need  for  him,  and  he  went  to 
work  with  Didot  le  jcune,  the  greatest  printer  of  his  time, 
from  whom  he  must  have  learned  much  about  the  technical 
part  of  his  profession.  There  is  little  evidence  that  Franklin 
had  any  marked  influence  upon  Carey.  The  dissimilarity  of 
character  and  the  difference  in  age  were  probably  too  great. 
Nor  does  their  acquaintance  later  in  America  appear  to  have 
been  other  than  of  the  most  formal  kind.  One  friendship  of 
very  great  value  later  he  did  make — that  of  La  Fayette.8 

Once  more  in  Dublin,  where  the  storm  had  blown  over,  he 
proceeded  to  get  into  fresh  trouble..  In  October,  1783,  his 
father  aided  him  to  establish  the  Volunteer's  Journal.  In 
this  he  boldly  defended  the  manufactures,  commerce,  and 
political  rights  of  Ireland  against  the  encroachments  of  Great 
Britain.  The  career  of  the  Journal  he  described  in  after  years 

•  /lie  urgent  necessity  of  an  immediate  repeal  of  the  whole  Penal  Code 
against  the  Roman  Catholics  candidly  considered,  to  which  is  added  an- 
inquiry  into  the  prejudices  entertained  against  them;  being  an  appeal  to  the 
Roman  Catholics  of  Ireland,  exciting  them  to  a  just  sense  of  their  civil  and 
religious  rights,  as  citizens  of  a  free  nation. 

'  While  Carey  was  an  exile  at  Passy  an  invasion  of  Ireland  was  con 
templated  by  the  French,  and  La  Fayette  called  upon  him  to  make  inquiries 
concerning  the  political  condition  of  the  country.  Carey  was  unable  how 
ever  to  give  him  any  information  of  value. 


as  "enthusiastic  and  violent."  As  "enthusiastic,"  it  excited 
the  approbation  of  the  Irish ;  as  "  violent,"  the  disapprobation 
of  the  English.  Carey  was  finally  imprisoned  for  an  article 
in  which  the  Parliament  in  general  and  the  premier  in  par 
ticular  were  denounced  for  their  Irish  policy.  After  living 
"joyously"  in  Newgate  for  a  month  he  was  released;  but 
dreading  the  outcome  of  a  suit  for  libel  instituted  in  behalf 
of  the  premier,  his  friends  persuaded  him  to  emigrate  to 

i  America,  September  7,  1784. 
For  a  while  he  hesitated  between  New  York,  Baltimore,  and 
Philadelphia.  He  chose  the  last  named  because  his  case  seemed 
better  known  there,  and  he  concluded  that  the  oppression  he 
(had  undergone  would  gain  him  friends.  There  he  was  to 
:  remain  until  his  death  in  1839.  As  he  had  only  a  dozen 
guineas,  and  was  unknown  and  friendless,  the  future  did  not 
look  particularly  promising.  By  chance  a  fellow  passenger 
visiting  Washington  and  Lafayette  at  Mount  Vernon  men 
tioned  Carey's  name  and  situation  to  the  latter.  When  La 
Fayette  arrived  a  few  days  later  at  Philadelphia,  he  requested 
Carey  to  call  on  him.  They  parted  after  half  an  hour's  con 
versation,  during  which  La  Fayette  promised  to  recommend 
him  to  Robert  Morris,  Thomas  Fitzsimmons4  and  others. 
Nothing  whatever  was  said  about  financial  assistance.  Judge 
then  of  Carey's  surprise  upon  receiving,  by  letter  the  next 
morning,  four  hundred  dollars  from  La  Fayette,  who  had 
already  departed  for  Princeton — a  sum  which  Carey  had  the 
pleasure  of  returning  to  the  donor  on  his  next  visit  to  America 
in  1824. 

Thru  this  gift  Carey  was  enabled  immediately  to  establish 
the  Pennsylvania  Herald,  January  25,  1785.  The  venture  met 

4  Thomas  Fitzsimmons  (1741-1811)  a  victim  of  England's  oppression  of 
the  Irish,  came  to  America,  probably  in  1765,  and  settled  in  Philadelphia. 
He  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  Revolution,  and  in  1780  his  firm  gave 
£5000  to  aid  the  cause.  He  also  raised  and  commanded  a  company  of 
militia,  and  served  at  the  battles  of  Trenton  and  Princeton.  In  1782  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and,  in  1787,  a  delegate  in  the 
framing  of  the  Constitution.  He  was  a  representative  to  the  first  Congress, 
a  strong  advocate  of  a  protective  tariff  up  to  1795,  and  an  opponent  of  uni 
versal  suffrage. 


with  scant  success  until,  on  August  27,  1785,  a  regular  series 
of  the  debates  of  the  House  of  Assembly  was  begun  in  its 
columns.  This  was  a  new  departure  in  American  journalism, 
and  greatly  increased  the  popularity  of  the  paper.  The  inevi 
table  political  alignment  soon  took  place;  and  Carey,  Anti- 
Federalist,  in  a  short  while  found  himself  engaged  in  a  bitter 
controversy  with  the  leader  of  the  Federalists,  Colonel  Eleazer 
Oswald.  Not  content  with  the  opportunities  afforded  by  his 
newspaper,  Carey  published  The  Plagi  Scurriliad,  a  Hudi- 
brastic  Poem,  addressed  to  Col.  Oswald.  The  Colonel's  retort 
was  a  challenge.  In  the  duel  that  followed,  Carey,  lame  since 
early  childhood,  received  just  above  the  knee  a  wound  that 
was  not  healed  for  fifteen  or  sixteen  months. 

During  this  period  the  Pennsylvania  Herald  seems  to  have 
been  discontinued,  so  that  Carey  was  free  to  start  another 
venture.  In  October,  1786,  he  began  the  Columbian  Maga 
zine.  Evidently  this  was  expected  to  be  a  very  lucrative  publi 
cation  for  there  were  five  partners ;  but  by  the  end  of  the  year 
1  Carey  had  withdrawn.  In  January,  1787,  he  issued  the  first 
number  of  the  American  Museum.  With  this_date  begins  his 
real  influence  and  importance  in  American  literature. 

The  magazine,  at  least  in  America,  was  yet  in  its  experi 
mental  stage.  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Andrew  Bradford  in 
1741  had  issued  the  first  monthly — The  General  Magazine 
and  Historical  Chronicle  of  all  the  British  Plantations  in  Amer 
ica*  but  there  had  not  been  enough  pioneers  in  the  field  to 
clear  the  road  for  the  newcomers.  Warned  by  the  ill  fortune 
of  all  his  other  ventures,  it  was  not  without  considerable  mis 
givings  that  Carey  attempted  a  new  one.  He  seems  to  have 
turned  to  Jeremy  Belknap,  already  well  known  as  a  literary 
man  and  one  well  qualified  to  give  advice  on  literary  projects. 
Bclknap's  reply,  written  from  Boston,  February  2,  1787,  was, 
in  part,  as  follows: 

"...  Several  attempts  have  been  made  within  my  memory 
both  here  &  at  the  Southward  to  establish  such  a  repository  of 
Literature,  but  after  a  year  or  two  they  have  uniformly  failed. 

•A.  H.  Smyth,  The  Philadelphia  Magazines  and  Their  Contributors, 
Philadelphia,  i8ga,  p,  22. 


To  what  other  Causes  this  failure  may  be  ascribed  I  will  not 
say — but  this  appears  to  me  to  be  one,  viz.,  the  too  frequent 
publication  of  them.  We  are  fond  of  imitating  our  European 
Brethren  (I  speak  of  scientific  Brethren)  in  their  monthly 
productions — without  considering  the  difference  between  our 
Circumstances  &  theirs.  A  Country  full  of  learned  men,  full 
of  business,  literary,  political,  mercantile — having  inexhaustible 
Resources  of  knowledge  of  every  kind — may  be  able  to  keep 
up  one  or  two  monthly  vehicles  of  Information  so  as  to  make 
a  respectable  appearance  but  such  a  Country  as  this  is  not  yet 
arrived  at  such  a  pass  of  Improvement.  Modesty  is  best  in  all 
new  attempts  &  it  is  certainly  the  wisest  way  to  begin  as  we 
expect  to  out.  For  these  reasons  were  I  to  have  the  direction 
of  a  Magazine  I  would  propose  to  publish  it  Quarterly  &  to 
increase  its  size  as  material  should  occur.  I  should  also  con 
duct  it  partly  on  the  plan  of  the  annual  Register  so  as  to  estab 
lish  a  Connected  history  of  Events,  taking  Care  to  keep  far 
enough  behind  so  that  any  Series  or  Period  should  lapse  in 
point  of  action  before  the  Relation  of  it  begin.  .  .  .  " 

To  these  admonitions  Carey  seems  to  have  paid  considerable 
attention,  but  he  found  that  Belknap  had  underestimated  the 
quantity  of  material  at  hand. 

The  first  article,  Consolations  for  America,  by  Benjamin 
Franklin,   is   indicative  of   the  tone   of  the  new   publication. 
Hitherto   all   the   magazines   published   in   this   country  had 
looked  across  the  ocean   for   their  models.     The  American 
Revolution  had  nearly  paralyzed  the  publishing  business,  and 
magazines  published  before  that  time  were,  almost  without 
exception,  intensely  loyal  in  their  attitude.     Bradford,  always  \ 
complaisant  to  British  suggestions  and  influences,  had,  in  his  j 
American  Magazine,    strongly   supported   the   crown   against 
the  French.    Pain_e_and  Brackenridge  had  too  often  made  their\ 
magazines  merely  a  medium  of  attack  upon  the  Tories.     The  / 
CoJmnjMaJMagazine  had  steered  clear  of  all  political  problems, \ 
but  had  given  much  of  its  space  to  manufactures  and  agricul-  ) 
ture.    Now  with  the  Am^jdcanJ^useum  a_complele_^^ej^_n/ 
magazine  begins.     While  avoiding  any  offensive  partisan  atti-   y 
tude,  it  nevertheless^eflects  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country  / 
in  those  critical  years  before  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution./ 
Its  articles  are  of  so  varied  a  nature  that  it  presents  the  nearest 
approximation  yet  obtained  to  what  our  forefathers  conceived 


*  a_  magazine  should  be — a  treasury  of  all  human  knowledge. 

^TfioTo^tKir  Columbian  Magazine,  in  its  issue  of  August, 
1789,  fell  the  honor  of  introducing  America's  greatest  novelist 
before  Cooper — Charles_Brockden  Brown7 — the  service  of 
Carey  in  giving  "tTTeliterary  talent  of  our  country  a  medium  of 
expression  may  be  best  judged  by  the  number  of  familiar 
names  found  in  the  Museum.  The  second  article,  in  which 
we  get  a  glimpse  of  the  politically  unorganized  condition  of  the 
country — Patriots  and  Heroes — the  Revolution  Is  Not  Over 
— is  by  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush.  Paine's  Common  Sense  is  re 
printed.  Philip  Freneau,  Trumbull,  and'  Col.  David  Hum 
phreys  arc  the  mo>t  voluminous  contributors  of  poetry,  which 
forms,  on  an  average,  one-fifth  of  each  number.  Trumbull's 
M'  Fingal  is  printed  in  full,  as  is  also  Col.  Humphreys'  Poem 
on  the  Happiness  of  America,  while  to  Francis Hopkinson. 
whose  name  occurs  repeatedly  as  contributor  of  both  prose 
and  poetry  in  the  lighter  vein,  is  due  the  credit  of  starting,  thru 
his  Dialogue  III  of  Dialogues  of  the  Dead*  the  "  muck  rake  " 
in_^jnerican  literature,  or  to  be  more  liberal,  the  somnolent 
street-sweeping  brigade  of  Philadelphia.  Anthony  Benezet 
utters  a  protest  against  slavery,  and  Governor  Livingston 
and  others  use  the  Museum  as  their  regular  organ.  It  is  true 
that  not  all  of  the  articles  signed  by  these  men  occur  here  for 
the  first  time,  but  the  majority  do;  and  the  minority  gain  an 
enlarged  circle  of  readers.  As  meager  as  was  our  literary  out 
put  at  this  period,  it  must  have  been  much  more  so  but  for 
such  a  medium  of  expression.  To  that  comparative  meager- 
ness  Carey  attests  when  he  says  the  opinion  had  been  enter 
tained  that  material  enough  to  run  a  magazine  was  not  obtain 
able;  but  he  adds  that,  contrary  to  that  expectation,  material 
beyond  his  needs  rapidly  accumulated.  This  was  not  strange, 
considering  his  ideas  of  what  a  magazine  should  be:  for  tho 
he  always  gave  the  preference  to  American  writers  and  articles 
he  felt  at  liberty  to  draw  from  any  source,  published  or  unpub 
lished,  on  practically  any  subject. 

/      T  Brown's  Rhapsodist.  f  A.   H.   Smyth,   Philadelphia  Magazines  and  their 
X    Contributors,  Philadelphia,   1892,  p.  153. 

*  'Vol.  I.  pp.  223-6. 


The  historical  spirit  was  always  strong  in  Carey:  we  find 
him,  in  the  preface  to  the  number  for  January,  1788  (Vol. 
Ill),  lamenting  the  loss  to  posterity  of  letters  of  commanders, 
accounts  of  battles,  authentic  state  papers,  and  similar  material, 
published  during  the  Revolution,  of  which  he  had  unique 
copies.  In  order  to  prevent  the  obscurity  of  some  of  the  im 
portant  events  of  the  Revolution,  he  determines  to  publish  as 
many  as  possible  of  these  documents  in  the  Museum,  which  is 
in  fact  a  veritable  mine  to  the  historian  of  the  period.  Noah 
Webster  also  seems  to  have  had  the  same  idea  of  thejbis- 
torical  value  of  a.  magazine,  for  on  September  3,  1788,  we  find 
him,  besides  asking  that  Carey  publish  his  Progress  of  Dulness 
in  the  Museum,  suggesting  that  Winthrop's  Journal  should  be 
added.  About  a  month  before,  Timothy  Dwight  had  sent  "a 
very  sensible  Dissertation  on  the  language  of  the  Muhhekaneen 
Indians  by  Dr.  Edwards  of  New  Haven.  I  think  it  well  suited 
to  your  design,  fraught  with  valuable  instruction  to  the  world. 
Let  me  advise  you  to  engage  the  assistance  of  that  gentleman, 
as  I  know  of  none  more  learned  &  able  in  this  country." 
Truly  if  the  reader  of  that  day  found  Hopkinson  and  a  few 
— a  very  few — others  too  frivolous,  he  had  but  to  turn 
the  page. 

As  yet  there  was n no  idea  of  "art  for  art's  sake"  and  Wash 
ington  expresses  but  the  common  view  of  m's'Time  when  he 
writes  to  Carey :  "  I  will  venture  to  pronounce,  as  my  senti 
ment,  that  a  more  useful  literary  plan  has  never  been  under 
taken  in  America,  or  one  more  deserving  of  public  encourage 
ment.  .  .  .  For  my  part,  ^entertain  an  high  idea  of  the  utility^ 
of  periodical  publications;  insomuch  that  I  could  heartily  de 
sire  copies  of  the  Museum  and  Magazines,  as  well  as  common 
Gazettes,  might  be  spread  through  every  city,  town,  and  vil 
lage  in  America.  I  consider  such  easy  vehicles  of  knowledge, 
more  happily  calculated  than  any  other,  topreserve  the  liberty, 
stimulate^the  industry,  and  meliorate  jtne^  morals  of  an  en 
lightened  and  free  people."9  T^ere  was  as  yet  extremely  little 

9  This  letter  and  the  letter  to  Poe,  on  pages  112-113,  are  the  only  letters 
quoted  in  this  study  which,  so  far  as  I  know,  have  been  previously  pub 
lished.  This  will  be  found  in  the  Preface  to  The  Museum.  John  Dickinson, 


* 


call  JOT  mere  amusement :  the  masses  needed  and  were  clamor^ 
ing  for  education.  Life  was  too  stern  and  practical  for  much 
e]E£ One  correspondent,  a  little  later,  enters  a  vigorous  pro 
test  against  the  loss  of  space  in  an  illustrated  spelling  book; 
besides,  he  writes,  his  pupils  wear  out  the  pages  by  turning 
them  over  to  look  at  the  pictures.  The  limited  number  of 
books  and  the  comparative  narrowness  of  scholarship  created 
a  public  of  deliberate  readers,  and  the  ability,  necessary  to  the 
modern  scholar,  of  skimming  thru  many  books  was  unknown 
and  unneeded. 

At  the  beginning  of  Volume  3,  January  to  June,  1788, 
Carey  prints  a  list  of  his  subscribers  by  states  and  countries, 
which  shows  the  widespread  habit  of  reading  even  at  that 
period.  With  the  exception  of  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire 
all  the  states  and  territories  of  that  time  are  represented.  Con 
sidering  the  struggle  for  material  existence  and  the  slowness 
and  uncertainty  of  transportation  facilities  this  is  a  good  show 
ing.  The  Boston  magazines  probably  account  for  the  absence 
of  subscribers  in  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire.  All  the 
European  countries  prominent  at  that  time,  with  the  exception 
of  Spain,  are  represented,  and  an  unusual  number  of  the  West 
Indian  Islands.  The  Museum  well  deserved  the  name  of  "  the 
first  really  successful  magazine  in  America."  Yet  the  life  of 
the  editor  was  never  above  penury.  At  no  time,  according  to 
his  own  statement,  was  he  possessed  of  more  than  four  hundred 
dollars.10  The  subscription  of  two  dollars  and  forty  cents  a 

William  Livingston,  Edmond  Randolph,  Ezra  Stiles,  Timothy  Dwight, 
Francis  Hopkinson,  and  many  others  sent  letters  or  resolutions  (published 
in  the  Preface)  strongly  approving  of  the  project. 

w  This  condition  arose  also  from  the  fact  that  more  than  half  of  the 
subscribers  lived  in  remote  situations,  often  five  hundred  miles  away,  and 
remittances  were  slow.  It  was  frequently  necessary  to  dun  these  sub 
scribers,  thru  hired  collectors,  at  a  heavy  expense.  Carey  printed  more 
copies  than  he  had  any  immediate  sale  for  in  the  vain  hope  that  the  sub 
scription  list  would  be  ultimately  enlarged.  When  he  became  a  publisher 
of  general  literature  he,  in  spite  of  the  warnings  of  the  Museum,  con 
tinued  for  several  years  to  publish  and  handle  a  stock  about  twice  as  large 
as  his  trade  justified.  It  was  necessary  to  borrow  money  heavily,  and  "  I 
was  shaved  so  close  by  the  latter  class  (the  usurers)  that  they  almost 
skinned  me  alive.  I  have  owed  for  months  together  from  three  to  six 


9,5 


year  was  entirely  too  low  for  the  thousand  or  eleven  hundred 
pages  furnished ;  remote  subscribers  refused  to  remit  promptly ; 
and  too  many  copies  were  printed  in  expectation  of  a  larger 
subscription. 

\  In  December,  1792,  the  last  numbers  of  the  Museum  and  of 
I  the  Columbian  Magazine  were  issued.  Both  editors  assign  the 
same  reason :  "  The  present  law  respecting  the  establishment 
of  the  post-office,  which  totally  prohibits  the  circulation  of 
monthly  publications  through  that  channel  on  any  other  terms 
than  that  of  paying  the  highest  postage  on  private  letters  or 
packages."11  Carey  mentions  as  an  additional  cause  the  ex 
tension  of  his  business  as  a  bookseller,  which  renders  him 
unable  to  give  the  Museum  proper  attention.  Only  once  more 
was  he  to  introduce  a  periodical  to  the  public — The  Thespian 
Monitor  and  Dramatic  Critic,  by  Barnaby  Bangbar,  Esq., 
(1809) — a  publication  which  did  not  live  long. 

The  year  after  the  suspension  of  the  Museum  a  yellow  fever 
plague  swept  over  Philadelphia,  and  for  a  summer  all  industry 
was  paralyzed.  The  readers  of  Arthur  Mervyn  will  recall  the 
vivid  pages  in  which  Brown  describes  the  suffering  of  this  sum 
mer.  With  more  fidelity  to  fact12  Carey  has  given  us  a  complete 

thousand  dollars,  borrowed  from  day  to  day,  and  sometimes  in  the  morning 
to  be  paid  at  one  o'clock  the  same  day,  to  meet  checks  issued  the  preceding 
day.  The  horrors  of  this  situation  can  scarcely  be  conceived  by  any  person 
not  experiencing  them.  I  have  worked,  lame  as  I  was,  from  nine  or  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  till  two  or  half  past  two,  trying  to  borrow  money." 
Yet  "  during  this  whole  period,  I  scarcely  ever  disappointed  a  lender." 
{Autobiography  in  the  New  England  Magazine,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  227-8.) 

It  might  be  added  in  this  connection  that  Carey's  reason  for  writing  the 
Autobiography  was  a  desire  to  encourage  those  struggling  under  such 
difficulties  as  he  had  met,  and  to  warn  them  against  bad  business  methods. 
The  motto  of  his  sunny  yet  indomitable  nature  was,  apparenly,  Never 
Despair. 

"Benjamin  Franklin,  in  his  Autobiography,  under  the  year  1729,  says 
that  Bradford,  the  postmaster  of  Philadelphia,  refused  to  allow  his  paper 
to  be  sent  by  post.  Carey  has  an  implied  charge  of  a  similar  nature 
against  that  dignitary  of  1792. 

12 "  While  the  upper  rooms  of  this  building  (the  hospital  at  Bush  Hill) 
are  filled  with  the  sick  and  the  dying,  the  lower  apartments  are  the  scenes 
of  carousals  and  mirth.  The  wretches  who  are  hired,  at  enormous  wages, 
to  tend  to  the  sick  and  convey  away  the  dead,  neglect  their  duty,  and 


history  of  the  epidemic  in  A  Short  Account  of  the  Malignant 
\  Fever,  Prevalent  in  the  Year  1/93,  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia. 
The  Short  Account  was  one  of  the  most  popular  of  its  author's 
\works.  It  reached  at  least  eleven  editions.  It  was  printed  in 
French  at  Philadelphia,  in  German  at  Lancaster,  and  in  Dutch 
at  Haarlem,  all  in  the  same  year,  1794.  A  large  part  of  the 
second  edition,  which  appeared  only  twelve  days  after  the  first, 
was  sent  to  Europe  to  show  creditors  there  the  reasons  for 
non  remittance.  As  a  history  based  on  documents,  and  aiming 
at  accuracy  alone,  it  lacks  the  vividness  found  in  Arthur 
Mervyn;  and  it  has  none  of  the  unforgetable  incidents  that 
fill  the  pages  of  Defoe's  Journal  of  the  Plague  Year.  Yet 
Carey  appreciated  the  great  human  drama  going  on  around 
him.  "  Arthur  Mervyn,"  he  writes,  "  gives  a  vivid  and  terri 
fying  picture,  probably  not  too  highly  colored,  of  the  horrors 
of  that  period."  During  this  time  he  was  not  a  mere  idle  on 
looker  or  a  dilettante  writer  analyzing  the  agonies  of  his  suffer 
ing  brother  man,  but  an  active  worker  in  two  important  com 
mittees  whose  members  were  dying  around  him  in  the  discharge 
of  their  dangerous  duties.  Tho  he  was  always  ready  to  give 
the  best  side  of  human  nature,  to  choose  the  brightest  ex 
amples,  the  impression  he  produces  is  one  of  horror  yet  not 
the  horror  produced  by  the  trained  literary  artist,  but  that 
which  is  inherent  in  the  subject. 

After  his  duel  with  Col.  Oswald,  Carey's  life,  while  at  the 
I  other  extreme  from  ease,  was  at  least  peaceful  until  William 
jCobbett,   intoxicated   by   the   eloquent  pages  of   Tom    Paine, 
came  to  Philadelphia  in  1792.     For  a  while  he  supported  him 
self  by  giving  lessons  in  French.    One  day  a  French  pupil  read 
a  diatribe  against  England  instead  of  his  usual  lesson.     This 
moved  Cobbett  to  write  a  pamphlet  in  defense  of  his  country. 
'^  Quite  naturally  for  a  man  of  his  ability  and  aggressiveness  he 
•  soon  found  himself  allied  to  the  Federalists,  who  were  friendly 

consume  the  cordials  which  are  provided  for  the  patients,  in  debauchery 
and  riot."  (Arthur  Mervyn,  Philadelphia,  1857,  Vol.  I,  p.  184.)  It  seems 
hardly  necessary  to  refute  this.  All  evidence  now  accessible  points  to  the 
fact  that  controlled  as  it  was  by  Carey,  Rush,  and  other  citizens  of  un 
questioned  integrity  and  ability  the  hospital  was  as  near  a  model  as  the 
medical  science  of  that  day  could  make  it. 


to  England.  About  this  time  Dr.  Joseph  Priestley  also  had 
\  come  to  America,  and  Cobbett  took  occasion  to  attack  him  in 
!  Observations  on  Priestley's  Emigration,  which  is,  in  fact,  an 

anti-revolutionary  tirade.     The   Observations   were   taken  to 

i  Thomas  Bradford,  the  printer ;  but  he,  being  an  ardent  enemy 
to  Great  Britain,  refused  them.    Cobbett  then  offered  them  to 
{  Carey,   and   it   was  thru  his   refusal   that  their  quarrel  first 
I  began.     Immediate  hostilities  were  occasioned  by  the  oppo 
nents  of  Cobbett  bringing  Carey's  name  into  their  pamphlets. 
Some  correspondence  ensued  between  the  two  men,  and  the 
threatened  controversy  seemed  in  a  fair  way  to  be  healed  when 
John  Ward  Fenno13  attacked  Carey,  who  was  a  Democrat, 
j  thru  the  columns  of  his  United  States  Gazette.     The  article 
was  copied  by  Cobbett  in  his  Porcupine's  Gazette.14     Carey's 
remonstrances   were  met  by  an  angry  answer,   and   Fenno's 
squibs  continued  to  be  copied.    In  the  controversy  that  ensued 
Carey  wrote  and  published  the  two  pamphlets,  A  Plum  Pud 
ding  for  the  Humane,  Chaste,  Valiant,  and  Enligtened  Peter 

13  John   Ward   Fenno   succeeded   his   father   as   editor  of   the   Gazette  of 
the   United  States.     Carey   calls  him   "  a  rash,   thoughtless,   and  impudent 
young  man."     The  Gazette  was  the  medium  thru  which  John  Adams,  when 
vice-president,    whiled    away    his    time    and    softened    his    disgust    at    his 
official  position   in   a  series   of   articles  entitled   "  Discourses   on   Davilla " 
being  an  analysis  of  Davilla's  History  of  the  Civil  Wars  of  France  in  the 
i6th  Century. 

14  The   Political   Censor,    a    monthly    which    ran    for    eight    numbers   had 
been   Cobbett's   chief  organ ;  but  monthly  attacks  seemed  too  far  between 
for  this  militant  spirit,  and  so   on  February   i,    1797,   he  issued  proposals 
for  Porcupine's  Gazette  and  Daily  Advertiser,  which  ran  nearly  three  years. 
Cobbett  claimed  in  after  years  that  he  was  mainly  influential   in  keeping 
this  country  from  joining  France  in  the  war  then  waging,  and  it  is  prob 
able  that  he   did  exert  considerable  influence.     Not  content  with  political 
warfare,    Cobbett    entered   the    medical    controversy    centering    around   Dr. 
Benjamin  Rush's  method  of  curing  the  yellow  fever  by  severe  bleeding.     The 
Doctor  brought  suit  for  libel  because  of  Cobett's  attacks  in  the  Rushlight 
and  elsewhere.    The  verdict  of  $5000  against  Cobbett  ruined  him  financially, 
and  was   the  chief  cause   of  his   return  to   England   in  June,    1800.      (See 
appendix  I,  page  114.)     Those  Americans  who  mourn  over  the  loss  to  our 
literature   when    Sandys,    Clough   and   others   departed,   and   who   speculate 
over  the  might-have-beens  had  the  ancestors  of  Hunt  and  Shelley  seen  fit  to 
remain   in    America,    are   strangely   ungrateful   for   the   very   tangible    four 
or  five  volumes  of  virile  prose  which  Cobbett  presented  us. 


12 

Porcupine  and  The  Porcupincad;  a  Hudibrastic  Poem,  1799. 
The  title  page  of  the  former  has  a  cut  of  a  porcupine  hanging 
from  a  street  lamp.  This  closed  the  controversy,  as  far  as 
Carey  was  concerned.  In  1815  we  learn  from  their  corre 
spondence  that  the  two  former  enemies  are  now  cooperating 
in  the  cause  of  liberty,15  for  during  the  period  between  1800 
and  1815  the  political  opinions  of  Cobbett  have  radically 
changed :  from  a  Tory  he  has  passed  to  the  most  ardent  of 
Liberalists.  As  a  reformer  of  the  ballot,  as  an  advocate  of 
agricultural  interests  and  as  a  bitter  opponent  of  a  standing 
army  he  sought  and  obtained  the  aid  of  Carey.  Both  men 
cooperated  in  opposing  the  reactionary  tendencies  which  vis 
ibly  followed  the  Congress  of  Vienna. 

"See  Appendix,  I,  p.  114  ff. 


CHAPTER   II 

MATERIAL  CONDITIONS  OF  PUBLISHING  AND  DISTRIBUTING  AT 

THE  END  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  AND  BEGINNING 

OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

When  the  firm  of  Mathew  Carey  was  established  in  1785, 
printing  in  America,  while  not  exactly  in  its  infancy,  was  yet 
hardly  able  to  maintain  itself  without  aid  from  Europe.  The 
first  printing  press  manufactured  in  America  was  made  at 
Germantown  in  1750.  At  the  same  place,  in  1772,  the  first 
regular  foundry  for  casting  type  was  built  by  Christopher 
Sauer  (or  Sower),  with  implements  imported  from  Germany 
and  intended  solely  for  German  types.  Three  years  before, 
Abel  Buel  of  Connecticut  had  manufactured  a  few  fonts  of 
long  primer,  but  this  was  the  first  regular  foundry.1  Yet  for 
two  and  a  half  centuries  before  1785  the  Americans  could 
boast  of  books  printed  in  the  New  World.  According  to  the 
Archbishop  of  St.  Domingo  a  book  called  The  Spiritual  Lad 
der  was  published  at  Mexico  in  1532.  No  trace  of  it  has  ever 
been  found;  but  Senor  Icazbalceta,  our  highest  authority  on 
such  points,  thinks  that  such  a  book  really  was  issued  about 
1537.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  a  Breve  y  mas  com- 
pendiosa  doctrina  Christiana  en  lengua  Mexicana  y  Castellana 
was  published  in  I539-2  This  publication  antedates  by  just 
an  even  century  the  first  printing  north  of  Mexico,  The  Free 
man's  Oath  and  an  Almanac  calculated  for  New  England,  by 
Mr.  Pierce,  Mariner,  printed  by  Stephen  Daye  at  Cambridge3 
on  a  press  which  the  shrewd  president  of  Harvard  had  added 
to  the  equipment  of  his  college  when  he  married  the  widow  of 

1  Isaiah  Thomas,  The  History  of  Printing  in  America,  Albany,  1874,  Vol. 
II,  p.  27- 

2  Richard    Garnett,    Art.    "  Early    Spanish- American    Printing."      In    The 
Library,  London,  1900,  Vol  I,  p.  140. 

8  Samuel  A.  Green,  Ten  fac-simile  reproductions  relating  to  New  England, 
Boston,  1902,  p.  13. 

13 


a  printer  who  had  died  on  the  passage  over.  The  first  real 
book,  however,  was  the  Bay  Psalme  Book  which  Daye  printed 
the  next  year.  In  1675  John  Foster  set  up  the  first  press  in 
*  Boston.4  William  Bradford,  of  Leicester,  England,  established 
I  the  first  printing  press  in  Philadelphia,  in  1682.  Religious  dis- 
'  putes  caused  him  to  withdraw  to  New  York,  where  in  1693 
he  set  up  the  first  press  in  that  city.5  Three  years  before  the 
first  paper  mill  had  been  erected  at  Germantown,  a  place 
which  seems  very  prominent  in  the  early  history  of  printing 
in  America.  In  1710  the  second  was  established  there  also.6 
One  hundred  years  later  there  were  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
five,  of  which  Massachusetts  had  forty  and  Pennsylvania 
sixty.  Of  this  number  seven  were  within  Philadelphia,  which 
in  the  same  year  could  boast  of  fifty-one  printing  houses,  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty-three  printing  presses.  Boston  had 
established  the  first  Anglo-American  newspaper,  in  April 
1704,  and  on  December  21,  1719,  had  preceded  Philadelphia 
by  one  day  in  the  establishment  of  a  second.7  Before  1740 
Massachusetts  printed  more  than  all  the  other  colonies  com 
bined,  and  not  until  about  1760  had  they  equalled  her  output. 
New  York  and  Connecticut  produced  a  few  volumes,  and  in 
Virginia  and  Maryland  a  few  books  were  artistically  printed. 
After  about  1760  Philadelphia  became  a  serious  rival  for 
Boston;  and  commercial  and  political  supremacy  soon  decided 
the  matter  in  favor  of  the  former. 

It  was,  then,  to  the  most  progressive  and  flourishing  city  in 
the  country  that  Mathew  Carey  came  in  1784,  and  there  began 
alone  to  build  up  the  business  which  was  to  be  of  so  much  bene 
fit  to  American  authors  and  readers.     Colonel  Oswald,  who 
viewed  his  operations  with  a  jealous  eye,  had  forced  him  to  pay 
more  than  the  price  of  a  new  one  for  a  second  hand  press,  and 
his  capital  was  practically  nothing;  yet  in  a  few  years  he  was 
,  able  to  make  the  statement  that  from  1792  to  1799  he  did  busi- 
iness  to  the  amount  of  $300,000,  and  that  he  frequently  em 
ployed  for  months  at  a  time  as  many  as  one  hundred  and  fifty 

4  Green,  p.  17. 

•Henry  O.  Houghton,  Early  Printing  in  America,  Montpelier,  1894,  P-  23. 

•Thomas,  Vol.  I,  p.  20. 

T  Ibid.,  Vol.  II,  p.  7. 


•L 


men  at  printing.  The  proceeds  of  two  works  alone  published 
at  this  period,  the  very  popular  Guthrie's  Geography  and  Gold 
smith's  Animated  Nature,  amounted  to  $60,000  or  more.  The 
2500  copies  of  the  former  retailed  at  $16.00  and  3000  of  the 
latter  at  $9.00. 

As  already  noted,  one  of  Carey's  reasons  for  the  discon 
tinuance  of  the  Museum  was  the  increase  of  his  business  as 
publisher  and  book  dealer.  In  a  letter  to  his  brother,  Rev. 
Mr.  Carey  of  Dublin,  May  14,  1792,  he  writes : 

"...  My  situation  never  promised  so  fair  as  at  present.  I 
have  lately  entered  pretty  largely  into  the  printing  &  book 
selling  business.  I  have  printed  a  considerable  number  of 
books  on  my  own  acct — the  history  of  New  York — Necker  on 
religion — Beauties  of  Poetry — Beatties  morals — Ladies'  Li 
brary — Garden  of  the  Soul — Douay  Bible — McFingal,  & 
several  smaller  works.  I  am  this  day  going  to  put  to  press 
the  Muses'  Magazine — &  as  soon  as  I  can  procure  paper  fit 
for  the  purpose  shall  print  Blair's  lectures  in  two  large  octavo 
volumes. 

"  I  have  written  to  London,  Dublin  &  Glasgow  for  a  supply 
of  foreign  books  without  which  I  cannot  have  a  proper  assort 
ment  .  .  .  ." 

From  this  comparatively  modest  beginning,  Carey  had  by 
1820 — about  the  time  when  Philadelphia  began  to  lose  her 
proud  preeminence  as  the  literary  and  commercial  center  of 
America — built  up  a  trade  that  extended  to  all  parts  of  the 
United  States  and  had  regular  exchanges  in  several  parts  of 
Europe  and  South  America.  Even  during  the  war  of  1812, 
a  period  second  only  to  the  Revolution  in  its  deterrent  effects 
upon  the  spread  of  literature,  and  still  more  conspicuous  for 
its  dearth  of  creative  writers,  the  business  of  the  firm  was 
fairly  extensive.  The  exchange  book  for  June  12,  1813,  to 
February  23,  1814,  for  example,  shows  how  widespread 
Carey's  exchange  list  was,  especially  towards  the  north.  At 
New  York  City  there  were  fourteen  correspondents,  at  Boston 
sixteen,  and  in  proportion  at  other  places,  some  of  them  now 
never  heard  of  in  connection  with  the  publishing  trade.8  That 

8  The  early  immigrants  were  in  many  cases  comparatively  well  educated ; 
and  wherever  they  went  it  was  but  natural  that  they  should  demand  reading 
matter  and  attempt  to  supply  that  demand.  There  were  as  yet  no  central 


16 

the  South  is  not  represented  more  frequently  in  the  exchange 
books  is  not  due,  as  yet,  so  much  to  the  fact  that  the  South 
read  less,  tho  that  is  probable,  as  to  the  comparative  scarcity 
of  printing  presses  and  to  the  large  number  of  branches  and 
subscription  agents  maintained  there.  The  statement  has  been 
made  that  more  fine  books  were  sold  in  antebellum  times  in 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  Nashville,  Tennessee,  than  in 
any  other  cities  of  the  United  States.  Even  as  early  as  1809 
we  have  a  demand  for  fine  bindings  from  a  branch  at  Dum 
fries,  Virginia.  However  this  may  be,  the  following  sentence 
occurs  in  a  letter  to  Washington  Irving  March  2,  1841,  con 
cerning  the  publication  of  a  volume  of  poems  by  Miss  David 
son  :  "  The  great  quantities  however  that  formerly  sold  when 
the  South  &  S.  West  were  opened,  cannot  now  be  managed." 

At  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  the  distributing  of  the  products  of  the  press 
presented  a  grave  problem  partly  solved  today  by  wide  adver 
tising,  by  the  publishing  of  trade  lists,  and  by  rapid  communi 
cation.  The  exchange  lists  referred  to  above  were  obviously 
one  of  the  best  means  of  keeping  a  full  and  varied  supply  of 
books.  No  publisher  had  yet  attempted  anything  like  the 
comprehensive  series  or  libraries  issued  today.  Indeed  the 
choice  of  books — I  speak  of  the  period  before  Scott,  Dickens 
and  other  British  novelists  were  republished  by  a  dozen  firms 
as  soon  as  the  first  number  could  be  secured — seems  very 
arbitrary ;  and  tho  the  works  issued  were  of  the  same  general 
class  it  was  obviously  impossible  for  one  publisher  to  cover 
the  entire  field  of  staple  English  reprints.  Hence  the  method 

places  which  overshadowed  all  lesser  ones  as  publishing  and  distributing 
centers.  Labor  had  not  yet  sought  a  special  market,  and  rapid  communi 
cation  had  not  drawn  outlying  towns  together.  Therefore  when  a  printer 
made  his  way  into  a  small  village  and  set  up  his  shop,  orders  for  printing 
work  of  all  sorts  came  to  him  in  fair  abundance  from  the  districts  nearby. 
To  judge  by  the  evidence  at  hand,  Reading,  Lancaster,  and  Germantown  in 
Pennsylvania,  Brattleboro,  Vermont,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  Hartford, 
Connecticut,  and  Burlington,  New  Jersey  were  very  early  fairly  well  known 
to  the  publishing  trade.  Pittsburg  and  Cincinnati  also  come  in  for  some 
notice  at  a  period  when  they  must  have  been  hardJy  more  than  mere  villages. 
Dumfries,  Virginia,  and  Whitehall,  North  Carolina,  were  distributing  sta 
tions  of  first  rate  importance. 


17 

of  offering  a  certain  number  of  books  in  exchange  for  others 
became  the  most  usual  way  for  the  larger  dealers  and  the  pub 
lishers  to  maintain  a  full  stock.  Once  in  the  hands  of  the  dis 
tributors  the  problem  was  to  get  them  to  the  more  remote 
districts. 

Bad  as  communication  was  in  America,  it  seems  to  have 
been  considered  good  by  new  arrivals.  On  November  9, 
1789,  Carey  writes  to  his  brother:  "I  have  traveled  a  great 
deal  of  late;  not  less  in  the  three  months  of  July,  August  and 
September,  than  1300  miles.  In  three  weeks  of  the  last  month, 
I  rode  650  miles,  on  a  horse  that  cost  me  only  22  dollars. 
Hardly  in  anything  is  there  so  strong  a  difference  between  the 
inhabitants  of  this  Country  &  those  of  England  &  Ireland,  as 
in  their  ideas  of  travelling.  A  journey  of  2  or  3  hundred  miles 
here  is  less  thought  of,  than  an  excursion  of  forty  or  fifty 
miles  in  Ireland.  I  made  slight  preparation  for  the  journey 
and  the  total  expense  of  the  650  miles  was  not  over  £8.  .  .  .  '' 

The  object  of  this  journey,  no  doubt,  was  to  secure  sub 
scribers  to  the  Museum  and  to  collect  accounts.  It  may  be 
taken  as  typical  of  what  a  large  number  of  canvassers  were 
doing;  conspicuous  among  whom,  at  a  later  date,  was  the 
Rev.  Mason  L.  Weems  of  Virginia,  author  of  the  story  of 
George  Washington  and  the  hatchet,  lives  of  Marion,  Penn, 
Franklin  and  others.  By  such  means  an  immense  number  of 
Carey's  quarto  Bible,  Guthrie's  Geography,  Goldsmith's  Ani 
mated  Nature  and  Lavoisne  &  Versey's  Atlas  were  distributed 
over  all  parts  of  the  country,  especially  thru  the  South  and 
Southwest.  The  woes  attendant  upon  the  book  canvasser  in 
the  twentieth  century  were  not  unknown  in  the  first  quarter  of 
the  nineteenth  as  is  shown  by  the  following  letter,  which  inci 
dentally  exemplifies  something  more  important — the  attitude 
towards  the  productions  of  American  scholarship: 

"  BALTIMORE  loth  Oct.  1817. 

"  MESSERS  M.  CAREY  &  SON. 

"...  Apropos,  I  could  but  mentally  laugh  the  other  day 
when  you  inquired  of  a  person  how  many  subscribers  he  had 
gained  &  how  long  he  had  been  in  Philadelphia.  He  answered 
60  or  70  a  week.  I  suppose  he  had  a  prospectus  for  a  Bible, 
a  Dictionary,  and  Directory,  Robinson  Crusoe,  a  News  Paper 
3 


18 

or  an  Almanac,  which  every  one  were  willing  to  possess  (even 
then  he  would  have  been  industrious.) 

"  But  Sir,  with  Dr.  B's  Botany  how  would  the  case  have 
been? 

"  You  may  in  mind  assimilate  my  business  to  water  running 
down  hill,  but  let  me  tell  you  it  would  be  more  just  if  you 
compared  it  to  a  shad  climbing  a  pine  tree. 

"  In  the  first  place  there  isn't  more  than  i  to  500  who 
knows  what  Botany  is,  that  one  you've  to  search  for  (once  in 
3  mos.  you  may  find  him  unengaged  at  home)  then  you  have 
to  convince  him  of  the  utility  of  an  American  production  of 
this  kind  (for  many  possess  extensive  histories  of  exotic 
plants),  after  put  down  his  prejudices  against  subscription  & 
at  last  wait  the  will  and  pleasure  of  his  whole  family  (when 
composed  of  girls  more  easy)  and  should  success  attend  you, 
you  in  verity  Pat  git  one  whole  subscriber!" 

The  names  of  subscribers  to  costly  works  were  generally, 
after  the  British  fashion,  printed  and  bound  in  with  the  vol 
ume,  a  subtle  way  of  making  vanity  pay  tribute  to  the  printer. 
John  Kelley  writes  from  Calcutta,  India,  February  24,  1792, 
about  a  new  subscriber  to  the  American  Museum:  "Only  sub 
scribe  John  Andrews,  Esqr.  Calcutta  Bengal  pretty  close  to 
General  Washington  or  Dr.  Franklin  and  you  may  charge  at 
least  50  per  cent  more  than  you  otherwise  would  for  the 
Books."  And  this  too  of  a  man  whose  "  knowledge  of  books 
and  reading  is  extensive." 

Freight  charges  are  rather  hard  to  determine.  There  are 
many  entries,  but  the  weight  is  never  specified.  In  1812  it 
cost  twelve  and  one  half  cents  per  foot  to  send  boxes  of  books 
by  water  to  Baltimore  and  ten  cents  to  New  York  City.  At 
this  time  transportation  by  water  was,  of  course,  much  cheaper 
than  by  land ;  and  we  find,  even  in  many  small  orders,  instruc 
tions  given  to  send  by  boat  rather  than  by  the  much  quicker 
but  more  costly  stage  coach,  which  was  reserved  for  a  later 
day,  when  every  publisher  was  trying  to  issue  the  first  number 
of  the  latest  British  novel.0  In  1818  the  cost  of  getting  two 

•In  1836  Carey  &  Hart  hired  all  the  seats  in  the  mail  stage  in  order  to 
place  five  hundred  copies  of  Bulwer's  Rienzi  on  the  New  York  market 
before  the  Harper  edition  could  appear.  (J.  C.  Derby,  Fifty  Years  Among 
Authors,  Books  and  Publishers,  New  York,  1884,  p.  551.)  This,  says  Mr. 


19 

boxes  of  books,  value  2100  francs,  from  Paris  to  Bordeaux 
and  clear  of  the  harbour  was  125.50  francs,  of  which  however 
only  sixty  were  actually  carrying  charges  between  the  two 
cities. 

Up  to  about  1800,  beyond  the  occasional  letters  between  the 
different  publishers  and  the  exchanges  referred  to  above  there 
had  been  no  attempt  at  cooperation,  nor  was  there  need  of  any. 
Not  enough  large  firms  had  developed  to  clash  seriously  with 
each  other  by  issuing  too  many  editions  of  the  same  work. 
Most  publishers  did  a  strictly  local  business,  and  the  remote 
ness  of  Carey's  greatest  rival,  Isaiah  Thomas  of  Boston — 
" le  Didot  des  £tats-Unis" — had  prevented  any  serious  inter 
ference.  Moreover  while  Carey  issued  many  original  works 
of  great  value,  Thomas  confined  himself  largely  to  those 
already  tested  by  previous  publication,  the  demand  for  which 
would  justify  simultaneous  editions  by  other  firms.  About 
this  time,  and  in  some  cases  a  little  earlier,  a  few  of  the  more 
enterprising  firms,  as  Mathew  Carey  and  Benjamin  Franklin 
of  Philadelphia,  Hugh  Gaine  of  New  York,  and  Samuel  Hall, 
Greenleaf  &  West,  and  Thomas  &  Andrews  of  Boston  began 
to  issue  hand  lists  of  their  own  publications  and  those  of  other 
publishers,  and  also  of  importations.10  To  an  outsider  seems 
due  the  first  idea  of  a  permanent  organization  to  reduce  the 
confusion  to  harmony.  In  the  correspondence  received  for 
1800  occurs  the  following  undated  letter. 

"  Great  complaints  have  been  made  that  the  works  of  the 
most  celebrated  Europeans,  or  of  the  Antients,  are  not  to  be 
found  in  the  United  States — this  is  the  complaint  of  Men  of 
Letters. 

Henry  C.  Lea,  was  frequently  done  many  years  earlier  by  Carey  & 
Son.  On  the  same  page  as  the  above  reference  Derby  says  that  one  day 
James  Fenimore  Cooper  came  to  Carey  &  Hart  with  manuscript  of  a  novel 
entitled  Eleanor  Wyllis  which  was  published  anonymously;  that  Cooper 
never  acknowledged  the  authorship  of  the  book,  which  was  a  failure,  but 
that  Mr.  Hart  believed  Cooper  had  written  it.  The  copyright  was  paid 
to  him  and  his  receipt  taken  for  it.  Lea  &  Blanchard  were  the  regular 
publishers  of  Cooper  at  that  time.  (The  exact  date  is  not  given,  but  it  is 
probably  1836.) 

10  The  first  regular  book-trade  catalog  was  issued  at  Boston,  in  1804, 
under  the  title  of  The  Catalogue  of  all  the  Books  Printed  in  the  United 
States.  The  number  of  volumes  listed  is  1338. 


20 

"  Booksellers  or  Printers  are  discouraged  from  undertaking 
expensive  publications  for  these  reasons : 

1.  It  is  tedious  to  wait  for,  and  expensive  to  obtain,  sub 
scriptions. 

2.  If  a  work  be  undertaken  without  subscriptions,  it  is  not 
probable  that  a  sufficient  number  would  sell  in  any  reasonable 
time  to  pay  the  expences,  unless  they  are  distributed  among 
the  Booksellers  in  the  Chief  Cities  over  the  Continent. 

"If  they  should  be  so  distributed  it  must  either  be  on  Com 
mission,  or  exchanged,  or  Sold.  All  these  methods  are  liable 
to  objections.  The  booksellers  are  well  aware  what  these  ob 
jections  are. 

"  Here  then  there  exists  great  difficulties  in  the  publication 
of  valuable  and  expensive  works. 

"  Are  those  difficulties  to  be  removed?  I  say  yes.  But  how? 
Turn  over  and  I  will  tell  you.  Let  a  few  of  the  principal 
Booksellers  (men  of  credit  and  some  wealth)  in  each  State 
erect  themselves  into  a  Company  to  be  called  The  Company  of 
Stationers  of  North  America. 

"  The  object  of  such  an  institution  would  be  to  assist  each 
other  in  the  sale  of  these  books  and  in  making  to  each  other 
expeditious  remittances. 

"  This  would  be  accomplished  by 

I  admitting  none  in  the  corporation  in  the  first  instance  but 
men  of  known  probity,  and  possessed  of  Capital. 
2.  by  forming  a  small  joint  Capital  in  each  State  for  the  assist 
ance  of  deceased  members  (sic)  or  their  widows. 

3  by  having  a  Common  hall  called  Stationers  Hall    (with  a 
Clerk)  in  each  State  to  keep  an  account  of  the  transactions 
between  that  State  &  the  other  States. 

4  By  regulations  to  prevent  interference  in  the  same  work. 

5  By  making  the  terms  of  admission  difficult  such  as  being 
apprenticed  to  one  of  the  society  and  other  requisites. 

6  By  the  expulsion  of  a  member  for  infidelity  to  the  Society 
or  its  members. 

"The  present  State  of  the  morals  of  Booksellers  in  the 
United  States  requires  something  of  this  kind  to  keep  them 
honest  punctual  &  willing  to  serve  each  other.  If  in  process 
of  time  Men  should  grow  better,  there  would  be  no  occasion 
for  associations.  We  must  fit  ourselves  and  our  institutions 
to  the  times,  since  we  cannot  alter  the  Manners  and  Morals 
of  Nature  in  a  sudden. 

"  I  am  told  that  in  general  500  copies  of  any  book  will  pay 
the  expenses  and  a  decent  profit,  if  so,  what  a  vast  number  of 
books  must  be  reprinted  if  booksellers  would  only  be  punctual 
and  honest  to  each  other. 


21 

"When  this  scheme11  takes  place  I  expect  to  be  appointed 
Clerk  to  the  Stationers  Comp.  of  Philadelphia  and  perhaps 
Secretary  to  their  federal  meeting. 

11  It  is  interesting  to  compare  this  plan  with  what  may  have  suggested  it, 
The  Stationers'  Company  of  England.  On  July  12,  1403,  those  citizens  of 
London  interested  in  the  production  of  books  petitioned  for  and  obtained 
the  right  to  form  themselves  into  a  guild  or  fraternity.  When  the  scriv 
eners  were  superseded  by  printers  the  latter  sold  their  sheets  to  a  separate 
class  called  stationers.  This  class  took  the  lead  of  the  printers  and  asso 
ciated  their  name  with  the  guild  which  soon  became  known  as  the  Com 
pany  of  Stationers.  An  ordinance  of  the  city  required  that  all  persons 
carrying  on  the  business  of  stationers  or  a  kindred  trade  must  enroll  them 
selves  as  members  and  become  subject  to  its  by-laws.  Every  member  was 
required  to  enter  in  the  Clerk's  book  the  title  of  each  book  or  "copy  "  which 
he  claimed  as  his  property  to  avoid  disputed  ownership.  This  is  the  germ 
of  the  modern  copyright.  At  first  the  craft  had  very  narrow  means;  and 
to  provide  funds  for  an  undertaking  of  any  magnitude,  several  often  com 
bined.  The  printing  in  such  cases  was  under  the  direction  of  wardens  who 
divided  the  profits,  a  small  portion  being  set  aside  for  the  relief  of  dis 
tressed  craftsmen.  Gradually  the  craft  acquired  wealth  and  power,  and  in 
1556  it  was  incorporated  under  the  title  of  the  Masters  and  Keepers  of 
Wardens  and  Commonality  of  the  Mystery  or  Art  of  a  Stationer  of  the 
City  of  London.  The  by-laws  of  the  company  set  forth  at  this  time  in 
clude  among  other  provisions,  the  following :  "  No  printing  presses  to  be 
erected  without  first  acquainting  the  Master  and  Wardens  ;  prohibition  to 
all  parties,  abettors,  and  assistants  against  erecting  '  a  press  in  a  hole '  and 
buying  pirated  books;  No  member  to  suffer  an  apprentice  to  work  at  un 
lawful  presses  or  work ;  no  printer  to  teach  his  Art  to  any  but  his  son  01 
apprentice;  no  printer  who  works  at  an  illegal  press  or  on  piratical  books 
to  be  admitted  as  a  pensioner;  Law  books  to  be  printed  by  none  but  the 
patentees ;  No  Member  of  the  Company  to  print  any  unlicensed  books ; 
Members  privy  to  the  printing,  binding  or  selling  unlicensed  publications 
to  disclose  them  to  the  Master  and  Wardens  on  pain  if  stockholders  of 
having  their  dividends  sequestered,  and  if  not  stockholders  to  be  fined ; 
Pensioners  offending  to  lose  their  pensions  and  holders  of  loan  money  to 
have  their  loans  called  in ;  Printers  offending  to  have  no  stock  work  for 
one  year ;  Those  who  enter  copies  to  be  reputed  the  proprietors  and  to  have 
the  sole  printing  of  them ;  Penalty  for  printing  importing  or  publishing 
another  person's  entered  copy;  Power  to  the  Master  and  Wardens  to 
search  printing  houses,  warehouses,  and  shops ;  No  entered  copy  to  be 
printed  by  another  without  assignment."  There  was  an  attempt  to  limit  the 
number  of  apprentices,  but  the  provisions  were  not  very  strictly  adhered  to. 
In  1598  the  Company  took  measures  to  limit  the  excessive  price  of  books. 
(Charles  Robert  Rivington,  article,  "  Notes  on  the  Stationers'  Company  " 


"  A  man  is  a  bad  carver  if  he  neglect  to  cut  a  slice  for 
himself.  LiTHjON."12 

At  the  top  of  the  letter  Carey  has  written  "  An  Idea."  This 
idea  he  appears  to  have  utilized,  in  part,  in  the  following  year, 
when  in  December  circulars  were  sent  out  to  all  the  booksellers 
and  printers  in  the  United  States  pointing  out  the  immense 
advantages  to  literature  and  art  that  would  be  derived  from 
a  literary  fair  such  as  existed  at  Leipsic  and  Frankfort. 
Yearly  meetings  were  to  be  held  alternately  in  Philadelphia 
and  New  York.  Carey  drew  up  a  constitution ;  the  first  meet 
ing  was  held  at  New  York,  June  i,  1802,  and  Hugh  Gaine 

t  was  elected  president.13  The  title  of  the  organization  was  The 
American  Company  of  Booksellers.  All  publishers  and  book- 

I  sellers  were  invited  to  attend  and  bring  samples  of  their  work 
or  of  books  they  desired  to  exchange.  The  project  was  enthu 
siastically  received,  especially  by  those  of  the  coast  towns, 
where  the  water  furnished  an  easy  and  cheap  method  of  trans 
portation.  For  a  few  years  success  attended  the  plan,  but 
soon  an  unexpected  evil  overtook  it.  The  less  important  and 
more  remote  publishers  produced  large  editions  of  popular 
works  on  cheap  paper  and  with  worn  and  broken  type,  with 
which,  by  means  of  the  exchange,  they  flooded  the  country. 
Naturally  the  more  prominent  publishers,  the  leaders  in  the 
company,  who  had  in  many  cases  good  editions  of  these  books 
on  hand,  soon  withdrew,  and  the  movement  collapsed.  It  had 
however  produced  one  very  substantial  benefit.  In  1802  a  $50 
gold  medal  was  offered  for  the  best  printer's  ink,  the  sample 
to  be  large  enough  for  practical  publication.  The  same  reward 

in  The  Library  New  Series,  Vol.  IV,  London,  1903,  pp.  355-66.  Compare 
Henry  B.  Wheatley,  article  "  The  Stationers'  Registers "  in  The  Bibli 
ographer,  London,  April,  1882,  pp.  130-35,  and  May,  1892,  pp.  171-75.) 

"This  signature  is  a  complication  of  flourishes.  It  appears  to  read  as 
above,  but  perhaps  it  is  Littlejohn. 

"  Mathew  Carey,  Autobiography,  in  The  New  England  Magazine,  Boston, 
1834,  Vol.  VI,  p.  306.  A.  Growoll,  Book-Trade  Bibliography  in  the  United 
States  in  the  XIX  Century,  New  York,  1898,  p.  iii,  says  that  the  organiza 
tion  was  accomplished  in  1801,  that  owing  to  the  epidemic  of  yellow  fever 
the  New  York  booksellers  could  take  no  part  in  the  meeting  of  this  year, 
and  that  Mathew  Carey  was  the  first  president. 


was  given  in  1804  for  the  best  paper  and  also  for  the  best 
binding  in  American  leather.  In  other  words  a  systematic 
attempt  was  made  to  improve  the  materials  of  American 
printing. 

Noting  the  enthusiasm  displayed  in  the  organization  of  the 
American  Company  of  Booksellers  the  school-book  publishers 
united  about  1802,  under  the  title  of  The  New  York  Associa 
tion  of  Booksellers.  "  To  lessen  the  number  of  imported 
Books "  their  constitution  reads,  "  which  are  now  becoming 
exceedingly  advanced  in  price,"  they  "  have  associated  them 
selves  for  the  Purpose  of  giving  correct  American  Editions  of 
such  elementary  works  as  are  in  general  use  in  our  Schools, 
Academies,  and  Colleges ;  and  also  for  the  publication  of  such 
other  Books  as  may  be  interesting  to  the  Community  or  con 
ducive  to  the  advancement  of  general  knowledge."  The  sug 
gestion  came  from  Baltimore  thru  Boston. 

"  BOSTON,  April  5th,  1802.     (Reed.  Apr.  12) 
"Sir— - 

"  Can  we  not,  by  establishing  a  Company  or  Association  of 
Booksellers  in  each  great  commercial  city,  under  uniform  regu 
lations,  to  correspond  regularly  with  each  other,  by  Committee, 
or  otherwise,  promote  the  interest  of  the  whole,  and  not  only 
multiply  the  number,  and  increase  the  reputation  of  American 
Editions — but  prevent  the  importation  of  all  such  Books  as 
may  be  printed  by  each  association  agreeing  that  as  soon  as 
any  work  reprinted  by  any  member,  in  a  manner  which  they 
approve  of,  no  one  shall  be  at  liberty  to  import  the  same  work, 
unless  in  a  larger  and  more  costly  form.  In  our  opinion  the 
best  way  to  prevent  the  importation  of  Books  will  be  to  im 
prove  American  Editions,  by  making  them  equal  to  the  Euro 
pean  and  this  can  easily  be  done  by  the  booksellers  each  regula 
ting  their  several  branches  of  business.  Let  the  Booksellers 
agree  to  employ  none  but  regular  bred  reputable  Printers  to 
do  their  work  at  a  fair  price.  Let  the  Book-Printers  for  the 
good  of  their  art,  determine  to  have  their  work  well  executed, 
and  to  employ  none  as  Journey  men  but  the  few  who  have  regu 
larly  acquired  their  business.  And  in  order  that  the  Binding 
may  be  equal  to  the  Paper  and  Printing,  let  the  Booksellers 
determine  not  to  employ  any  but  regularly  bred  Bookbinders 
and  they  none  but  regular  Journeymen,  except  such  as  may 
already  be  in  business.  Some  regulations  of  this  nature  among 
the  three  Branches  would  insure  good  Editions  and  there 


24 

would  be  a  certain  Sale  for  every  Book  of  Merit,  if  the  Book 
seller  was  sure  that  as  soon  as  he  provided  a  handsome  Edi 
tion  of  all  the  valuable  classic  and  School  Books,  in  the 
different  places,  and  by  interchanging  we  should  each  have 
an  assortment  of  valuable  Books  at  the  first  cost.  That  meas 
ures  of  this  kind,  if  they  can  be  carried  into  effect,  would  be 
of  immense  benefit  to  the  several  branches  of  the  business, 
and  tend  powerfully  to  prevent  the  importation  of  Books,  we 
are  fully  convinced — how  far  they  are  practicable  we  do  not 
know — but  we  are  fully  of  opinion  that  the  most  important 
part  of  such  a  system  might  be  carried  into  complete  effect 
here. 

"  The  preceding  ideas  were  suggested  by  a  circular  letter 
from  Baltimore  wishing  the  Booksellers,  etc  to  unite  in  a  Peti 
tion  to  Congress  for  additional  duties  on  imported  Books. 
Such  additional  duties,  we  are  apprehensive,  would  be  produc 
tive  of  much  public  inconvenience,  as  it  would  be  impossible  to 
specify  particular  Books,  and  it  would  be  a  great  while  before 
all  the  books  wanted  could  be  printed  here.  Besides  if  we  can 
only  agree  among  ourselves,  we  can  print  and  sell  cheaper  than 
they  can  be  imported  and  sold. 

"  We  wish  you  would  take  the  preceding  into  serious  con 
sideration,  and  present  to  the  trade,  in  the  principal  cities, 
the  outline  of  a  plan  for  improving  our  own  and  preventing 
the  importation  of  imported  Books.  By  well  directed  efforts 
we  think  something  of  the  kind  may  be  brought  about. — 
THOMAS  &  ANDREWS." 

On  April  26,  they  again  write :  "  We  will  endeavor  to  pre 
pare  the  outlines  of  a  plan  for  an  association  of  the  trade  and 
wish  you  not  to  fail  of  attending  it,  as  you  will  be  able  to  sug 
gest  many  ideas  that  will  not  occur  to  us.  .  .  ." 

I  am  unable  to  find  the  exact  fate  of  the  New  York  Asso 
ciation  of  Booksellers,  but  it  seems  to  have  been  very  similar 
to  that  of  the  American  Company.  At  any  rate  only  ten  years 
later  Carey  is  again  writing  to  a  fellow  publisher  about  another 
association  of  a  very  similar  nature,  except  that  the  exchange 
feature  and  a  limited  membership  are  emphasized.  In  spite 
of  their  brief  duration,  the  two  organizations  cannot  be  re 
garded  as  unfruitful.  The  results  of  the  former  have  already 
been  glanced  at:  to  the  latter  is  undoubtedly  due  much  of  the 
impetus,  to  be  noticed  later,  in  school  book  publication  and  in 
the  reproduction  of  the  ancient  classics.  The  feeling  of  coop- 


25 

eration  and  of  mutual  esteem  that  seemed  to  be  growing  up 
among  publishers  and  dealers  was  to  be  almost  completely 
destroyed  at  a  later  date  by  the  advent  of  the  popular  novels 
of  Scott  and  other  British  authors. 

The  hand  lists  issued  by  the  better  firms14  were  among  the 
first  steps  towards  the  familiar  twentieth  century  method  of 
book  distribution  thru  wide  advertising.  They  were,  however, 
largely  intended  for  the  trade.  Yet  as  early  as  June  17,  1789, 
Carey  pays  to  The  Freeman's  Journal  a  bill  of  £9/1/3  for 
inserting  six  advertisements,  which  no  doubt  were  intended 
for  the  public  at  large.  The  neglect  of  advertising  in  general, 
and  of  newspaper  advertising  in  particular,  was  a  source  of 
much  discontent  to  editors.  How  great  that  neglect  was  may 
be  judged  from  the  comparatively  infrequent  entries  in  the 
following  bill,  which,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  the  entire 
expense  of  the  most  aggressive  publisher  of  the  day. 

"  MR.  MATHEW  CAREY  TO  ANDW.  BROWN"  Dr. 

1794  drs.  cts. 

January  7th  To  Advertising  respecting  Algerine  Robbers  6  times     i  50 

9th  To  do do do  Y^  squares  6  times  i  87^ 

1 6th  To  do   respecting  The  Malignant  Fever  8   do  i  90 

24th  To  do  Collection  of  Maps                            6  do  i  50 

Mar  i  To  do  Love  in  a  Village  3  do  90 

Up  to  August  6  the  total  was  $84.64.  It  is  noteworthy  that 
in  this  bill  the  advertisement  of  Charlotte  Temple  is  the  third 
largest  item.  Possibly  the  immense  vogue  of  that  novel  was 
due,  in  a  measure,  to  persistent  advertising.  The  New  System 
of  Modern  Geography  was  advertised  to  the  extent  of  $43.80; 
on  Guthrie's  Geography,  however,  only  $3.93  was  expended. 

This  neglect  was  not  caused  by  lack  of  results ;  for  Winifred 
Gates,  whose  commission  sales  were  large,  writing  from 
Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  in  1800  says  that  tho  the  last  assort 
ment  was  a  very  unsalable  one  she  would  "  immediately  adver 
tise  them,  by  giving  the  Title  of  each  Book  in  the  Paper,  and 
if  anything  will  sell  them  this  will." 

Moreover  the  Port  Folio  magazine,  which  was  established 
at  Philadelphia  in  1 80 1,  soon  found  itself  too  freely  utilized  as  a 

14  See  p.  19. 

15  Very  probably  the  advertisements  were  in  Brown's  Philadelphia  Gazette. 


26 


gratuitous  advertising  medium.  Evidently  the  editor  thought 
himself  abused,  for  in  a  very  few  years  he  was  compelled  to  pro 
test.  He  understood  also  the  service  of  such  a  medium  as  his  for 
bringing  order  out  of  the  chaos  that  for  a  while  followed  the 
collapse  of  the  two  publishing  associations,  since  later  we  find 
him  telling  the  booksellers  that  if  they  would  only  send  him 
notices  of  projected  volumes  there  would  be  less  confusion 
and  fewer  rival  editions.  Finally  the  book  announcements 
and  reviews  became  one  of  the  most  important  features  of  the 
magazine.  About  1819  the  North  American  Review  also  be 
came  prominent  in  this  way. 

Everyone  knows  that  from  its  very  beginning  to  the  present 
day  there  has  been  a  constant  tendency  to  lessen  the  cost  of 
literature  to  the  consumer.  It  is  not  necessary  here  to  enter 
into  the  progress  of  mechanical  science  to  which  this  result  is 
most  largely  due.  The  prices  paid  by  the  publisher,  even  a 
century  ago,  were  quite  different  from  those  now  prevailing. 
From  the  wealth  of  material  at  hand  the  following  bills  are 
taken  as  typical  of  the  different  charges  of  representative 
periods : 


FEBY  5,  1787.     MR.  MATHEW  CAREY  TO  CH*.  CIST 
To  composing  one  sheet  of  his  museum  in  small  pica  27  X  48 
printing   1080   1/17/6 
45  quires  of  paper  for  the  same 
To   12  reams  of  demy  paper   15% 


PHILADELPHIA  MR.  MATHEW  CAREY  TO  DANIEL  BROENTIGEN 

1793  January  12     To  full  binding  &  filleting  50  Think  Well  on't 

"  do  letter  &  filleting  @   ^yl,  3 

Setts  American  Museum   12  vols  each  @   Ys 

"         17     To  binding  in  Embossed  paper  100  History  of 

Charles  Grandison  @   nd 

21     To  full   bind,  letter  &  filleting   50   Moral  Sci 
ence  K 

Philadelphia  igth  July  1794 
Mr  Mathew  Carey  to  James  Hardie 
To  reading  ya  sheet  Roderic  Random 
To       do        V*   Edwards  on  the  Affections 
To   1 1/2   days  employed  in  correction  the  longitude  etc. 


£3/17/6 
5/iS/o 
1/17/6 

9/0/0 

£20/9/6 


4/16/0 


i/13/i 


3/io/n 


i  6 

i  6 

i      2  6 

i      5  6 


27 

M.  C.  To  William  Barker, 

1795 

Jany.  29     To  engraving  a  map  of  South   Carolina18  £30  n   3 

May    26     To         do  i   copper  plate   (West  part  of  United 

States  1172^)  42     5  7*A 

Aug.      6     To         do  i     do     Likeness    of    M'uir    &    Palmer 

(plate   incl.)  i     03 

Mar.  12     To  furnishing  vallance  with  plate  for  N.  C.  i     8  o 

On  September  15, 1800,  a  letter  from  Mount  Holly  referring 
to  a  cap  octavo  Greek  grammar  says : 

"  By  putting  the  Notes  in  Brevier,  the  whole  may  be  done 
page  for  page  14^  sheets,  19,000  ems  in  a  sheet  at  100  cents 
per  1000;  which  with  the  additional  charge  for  Notes  will 
bring  the  composition  to  20  Dolls  a  sheet. — 14^2  sheets  at  20 
is  285  Dolls — The  press  work  as  usual." 

In  October,  1808,  one  of  the  friends  of  Carey  had  a  book 
which  was  about  to  be  preceded  by  a  rival  edition  and  he  called 
upon  him  for  aid.  His  estimate  is : 

"  One  third  of  the  book  is  notes  which  should  be  done  on 
Nonpareil,  &  the  text  in  Long  Primer.  In  that  case  it  will 
make  little  more  than  300  pages,  if  so  much.  The  paper  should 
be  at  least  4  dollars  (Wieath's  is  3:45).  In  that  case  the  ex 
pense  of  printing  3000  copies  would  be  $1212  for 

1000  copies.  for  jooo  copies. 

120.00  paper  at  4.00  360.00  paper 

192.00  Case  Work,  at  40  cents  192.00  case 

40.00  Press  Work,  at  4  cents  120.00  press 

180.00  Binding,  at  18  cents  540.00  Binding 

1000  532.00  3000  1212.00 

53/4  f°r  IOO°  eacn  4°  cents  each  for  3000 

In  which  estimate  the  composition  is  rated  at  400  pages  on 
account  of  notes,  which  will  be  about  10  percent  too  much  & 
the  notes  have  been  counted  as  if  done  in  Brevier,  the  text  in 
Small  Pica;  .  .  ." 

16  For  Guthrie's  Geography  4to.  August  5,  1793,  Carey  had  offered  Jere 
miah  Belknap  three  dollars  a  page  for  an  article  on  Massachusetts.  Wash 
ington,  at  Carey's  request,  lent  him  several  hundred  maps  to  be  used  in 
preparing  this  work. 


28 

Aug.  24,  1815     Mr.  M.  Carey  To  Wm  Culloughton 
To  Printing  1000  Garden  of  the  Soul. 

SmPicaiSmo.     360  pages.     10  sheets. 

ms       pages       ms 

19X36  =  684X36°  =  246,240  X  50  =  5123.00 
20  forms  =  8  X  10  tokens  X  50  =     40.00 

Philad  imo  22nd  1820  Mathew  Carey  &  Son  To  William 

Brown  Dr. 
To  printing  five  forms  of  Ivanhoe  11,500  m's  and  six 

tokens  per  form  ($&75  per  form)         $4375 

three  forms  of  the  Monestary  11,000  m's  and  ten  tokens 

per  form  ($10.50  per  form)  31.50 

Two  pages  that  was  canseled  5  tokens  of  press  work  on 

them  4.00 

$79.25 


of  Muir  &  Palmer."  Up  to  1819  illustrations  were  extremely 
expensive,  but  in  that  year  the  first  lithograph  in  America 
appeared  in  the  Analetic  Magazine  for  July,  iSiQ.17  The 
cheapening  of  illustration  thru  this  method  led  in  the  next 
decade  to  the  immense  increase  in  illustrations  so  noticeable  in 
the  magazines,  and  without  doubt  appreciably  aided  in  popu 
larizing  literature. 

Another  process  which  tends  greatly  towards  decreasing  the 
price  of  books  began  to  assume  commercial  importance  about 
this  time,  that  is  stereotyping.  The  credit  of  being  the  first 
in  America  to  use  the  process  seems  due  to  Dr.  John  Watts, 
who  came  to  this  country  in  1804  or  1805.  David  Bruce 
further  improved  the  art  by  inventing  the  planing  mill.  Elec- 
trotyping  was  not  invented  until  the  middle  of  the  century. 
Up  to  the  time  of  Watts  and  Bruce  it  was  necessary  to  reset 
the  type  for  a  new  edition  or  else  allow  it  to  stand  at  a  great 
expense.  In  1801  Carey  adopted  the  latter  method  with  a 
quarto  edition  of  the  Bible  which  he  had  prepared  at  a  very 
great  outlay,  having  paid  a  clergyman  $1000  for  additional 
references  and  having  himself  collated  eighteen  different  texts. 

"  A.  H.  Smyth,  Philadelphia  Magazines  and  their  Contributors,  Phila 
delphia,  1892,  p.  1 80.  See  also  the  American  Dictionary  of  Printing  and 
Bookmaking,  article  on  lithography;  but  compare  Appendix  II.  "In  1802 
or  thereabouts  Carey  had  correspondence  with  Didot  concerning  the 
latter's  use  of  a  method  of  lithographing,"  says  Mr.  Henry  C.  Lea. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  DEPENDENCE  UPON  EUROPE 

It  may  be  possible  for  colonies  to  have  a  really  vigorous  and 
important  literature,  but  historical  facts  seem  to  indicate  that 
as  long  as  they  must  look  to  a  mother  country  for  political 
guidance  and  commercial  aid  so  long  will  they  fail  to  attain 
the  first  rank  intellectually.  Of  course  the  fact  must  be  taken 
into  consideration  that  colonies  seldom  enjoy  the  material 
equipments  of  life  which,  if  not  necessary  for  a  great  litera 
ture,  are  at  least  very  important  factors  in  its  development. 
American  scholarship,  for  example,  was  retarded  for  half  a 
century  merely  by  the  lack  of  a  medium  thru  which  it  might 
express  itself.  Moreover,  as  long  as  one  country  accepts  the 
customs  and  the  intellectual  attitude  of  another,  there  is  little 
room  for  aught  else  than  imitation ;  and  an  imitative  literature 
has  never  save  in  the  case  of  the  Romans  been  of  the  first 
rank.  As  long  as  America  was  loyal  to  England  there  were 
no  great  national  questions  to  be  discussed  in  the  prose  of  a 
Thomas  Paine  or  the  verse  of  a  Trumbull  or  a  Freneau;  a 
political  separation  was  necessary  in  order  that  a  Mathew 
Carey  should  lay  the  foundation  of  an  American  system  of 
political  economy.  And  when  the  great  political  upheaval  of 
the  American  Revolution  came  with  its  complete  political  divi 
sion,  there  was  not  by  any  means  the  same  clear-cut  intel 
lectual  cleavage,  for  only  the  growth  of  years  could  change 
the  bias  of  thought  of  an  entire  people.  What  wonder,  then, 
that  before  the  Revolution,  and  for  a  few  decades  after  it,  the 
output  of  the  American  press  consisted  mainly  of  reprints  of 
English  authors.  It  is  true  that  to  disregard  the  mature  litera 
ture  at  hand  would  have  been  almost  a  crime  against  our  intel 
lectual  development,  but  to  favor  the  English  at  the  expense 
of  the  American  author  was  no  less  fatal.  If  it  took  John 

29 


Winthrop's  Journal  a  century  and  a  half  to  get  into  print,1 
what  chance  had  many  a  lesser  author? 

,       While   the    Revolution    produced    an    immense    number    of 
'  political  pamphlets  and  poems,  especially  towards  its  beginning 
I  and  near  its  close,  it  tended  on  the  whole  to  paralyze  the  pub- 
j  lishing  industry.     Practically  every  publishing  center  was,  at 
'  one  time  or  another,  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  suffered — 
as  in  the  case  of  Germantown,  which  was  of  first  importance 
as  a  paper  manufacturing  center — more  or  less  material  loss, 
not   to   speak   of   the   energy   turned   into   military   channels. 
Isaiah  Thomas  for  example  was  compelled  to  leave  Boston  for 
Worcester.     But  even  here  his  business  was  interfered  with, 
and  we  find  him  living  for  some  time  upon  his  farm.     The 
supply   of   imported    Bibles   seems   to   have  been   completely 
stopped,  and  the  Committee  on  Commerce  ordered  the  impor 
tation  of  20,000  from  Holland,  Scotland  or  from  any  place 
where  they  could  be  obtained.     The  order  was  not  filled,  how- 

Iever,  for  in  1782  Robert  Aiken  printed  a  large  edition  of  the 
first  English  Bibles  ever  issued  in  America.  This  pious  and 
laudable  undertaking  Congress  approved  in  the  same  year 
because  it  was  "  subservient  to  the  interest  of  religion,  as  well 
as  an  instance  of  the  progress  of  the  arts  in  this  country."2 
Importations  from  England  were  stopped,  and  for  a  consid 
erable  period  America  was  thrown  on  her  own  resources. 

1  John  Winthrop's  History  of  New  England  from  1630  to  1649,  like 
the  History  of  Bradford,  was  preserved  in  manuscript  in  the  library  of  Old 
South  Church,  Boston,  up  to  the  Revolution.  After  quiet  was  restored  two 
of  the  three  volumes  were  found  in  the  possession  of  the  Connecticut  branch 
of  the  Winthrops.  These  were  as  previously  noticed  (page  8)  edited  by 
Noah  Webster,  in  1790.  The  third  volume  remained  in  the  church  and  was 
not  discovered  until  1816.  While  a  new  edition  was  being  made,  the 
second  volume  was  burned,  leaving  only  this  careless  edition  of  Webster's. 
(Pioneer  Literature,  edited  by  William  P.  Trent  and  Benjamin  W.  Wells, 
New  York,  1903,  p.  91.)  Nor  is  this  an  isolated  case:  Bradford's  History 
of  Plymouth  Plantation,  Gookin's  An  Historical  Account  of  the  Doings  and 
Sufferings  of  the  Christian  Indians  in  New  England  (and  perhaps  his  His 
tory  of  New  England)  and  a  history  of  New  England  by  William  Hubbard 
passed  thru  vicissitudes  that  read  like  the  adventures  of  a  rare  mediaeval 
manuscript. 

"John  Bach  McMaster,  A  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States, 
New  York,  1900,  Vol.  V,  p.  283. 


}  After  the  Revolution  recovery  was  comparatively  rapid. 
The  demand  for  books  of  information  was  immediate  and  that 
for  general  reading  shows  a  steady  increase.  Before  1790 
there  had  been  issued  from  Philadelphia  presses  the  first  Amer 
ican  editions  of  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  an  abridgment  of 
The  Lives  of  the  British  Poets,  Leland's  Ireland,  Robertson's 
Scotland,  and  Adam  Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations.  Between 
1790  and  1800  appeared  Paley's  Moral  Philosophy,  Russell's 
Modern  Europe,  Robertson's  Histories,  Aristotle's  Ethics  and 
Politics,  Johnson's  Dictionary;3  and  also  considerably  before 
1790,  that  edition  of  Rasselas  which  so  soothed  Dr.  Johnson's 
ruffled  temper.  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Dryden,  Pope,  Richard 
son,  Shenstone,  Akenside,  Defoe,  and  Goldsmith  were  popular 
before  the  Revolution,  but  with  the  advent  of  Mrs.  Radcliffe 
and  similar  writers  their  popularity  suffered  a  striking  decline 
in  favor  of  a  host  of  Abbeys,  Romances  and  Mysteries. 
Although  a  dealer  at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  can  write  in 
1800  that  "  nothing  sells  better  here  than  modern  law,  an  order 
for  a  Parcel  of  which  I  have  just  sent  thro'  Charleston  to 
London,"  yet  only  a  year  later,  after  ordering  a  rather  large 
list  of  substantial  books  she  adds :  "  Mr.  Carey  will  be  so  oblig 
ing  as  to  send  as  many  of  the  Novels  as  he  can  procure,  it  will 
be  mutually  our  interest  to  keep  a  good  collection,  as  the  good 
folks  here  love  light  reading."  The  list4  is  disconcerting  to 
those  persons  who  seem  to  believe  that  our  forefathers,  wiser 
than  ourselves,  never  frittered  away  their  time  over  idle  sen 
sationalism.  But  tho  this  is  not  an  exceptional  list,  for  it 
may  be  paralleled  in  page  after  page  of  many  account  books,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  there  was  another  side  to  the  ques 
tion  doubtless  more  important  then  than  it  is  at  the  present 
day:  if  Carey  had  maintained  a  larger  correspondence  with 
Puritan  New  England  there  might  have  been  a  few  more 
persons  to  write  significantly  as  did  his  printer  and  paper  maker 
at  Easton,  Pennsylvania,  on  March  13,  1800,  "  if  you  can 

8  Cf.  McMaster,  Vol.  V,  pp.  282-3.  See  also,  in  part,  Charles  R.  Hilde- 
burn,  Issues  of  the  Press  in  Pennsylvania,  1685-1784,  Philadelphia,  1887, 
Vol.  II. 

*  See  Appendix  III. 


32 


think  of  printing  a  Novel."  Nevertheless  even  in  New  Eng 
land  Royall  Tyler,  in  the  preface  to  his  Algerine  Captive, 
notices  in  1797  that  in  the  last  seven  years  "  some  dreary  some 
body's  day  of  Doom  "5  and  other  works  of  its  class  had  been 
replaced  by  such  "  light  reading  "  as  they  demanded  in  North 
Carolina.  On  the  whole  Tyler  thinks  the  change  a  good  one ; 
but  he  regrets  that  the  new  literature  was  "  not  of  our  own 
manufacture,"  and  that  it  did  not  mirror  American  life,  but 
presented  a  picture  of  European  institutions  and  of  moral  atti 
tudes  totally  at  variance  with  our  own.  Our  political  depend 
ence  had  passed  away :  our  literary  and  intellectual  dependence, 
tho  changing  in  its  aspect,  was  yet  a  controlling  force. 

But  to  one  not  inconsiderable  element  of  our  population 
dependence  upon  their  mother  land  was  quickly  lost.  The 
Germans,  the  French,  and  the  Dutch  were  soon  forced,  thru 
linguistic  and  commercial  necessities,  to  forget  that  they  had 
another  language  and  another  civilization.  The  Germans  had 
no  small  part  in  the  first  steps  of  American  publishing.  To 

!them  we  owe  the  first  paper  mills.  The  first  religious  maga 
zine  in  America  was  Sauer's  Geistliches  Magazine,  1764,  for 
which  Sauer  himself  cast  the  first  type  made  in  America.*  In 
11798  appeared  the  Philadclphischcs  Magazin  fur  die  Deutschcn 
in  America.7  Yet  both  periodicals  were  shortlived,  and  even 
as  early  as  1787  a  firm  which  had  "just  set  up  a  German  & 
English  Printing  Office,  Stationary  &  Bookstore,"  at  Lancaster 
and  were  about  to  publish  a  newspaper  were  disappointed  to 
find  more  English  readers  than  German  for  they  "  sold  three 
English  books  to  one  in  German."  And  this  too  of  all  the 
regions  in  America  was  at  this  time  the  most  thickly  settled 
by  Germans.  It  must  be  added  that  the  importation  of  books 
in  foreign  languages  was  yet  inconsiderable.  To  the  French 
and  the  Dutch  is  traceable  much  less  influence,  tho  works 
were  printed  in  the  language  of  each.  Every  person  not  of 
British  descent  who  learned  our  speech  was  a  clear  gain  in  the 
struggle  against  literary  subordination  which  was  coming;  for 

*  Lillie  Detning  Loshe,  The  Early  American  Novel,  New  York,  1907,  p.  i. 
"  Smyth,  p.  19. 
1 1bid,  p.  84. 


33 


such  a  person  was  free  from  the  powerful  influence  of  in 
herited  English  traditions  and  sympathies,  and  unawed  by 
British  criticism  and  condescension.  Those  who,  like  Carey 
himself,  had  sought  America  as  an  asylum  from  oppression 
were  equally  disinclined  to  accept  dictation  from  across  the 
ocean.  Still  less  would  the  German,  the  French,  the  Dutch,  or 
the  Irish  be  inclined  to  send  their  children  to  England  for  their 
education,  as  was  so  often  done  by  parents  of  direct  British 
descent. 

The  uneducated  reader  is  usually  uncritical,  enjoying  alike, 
without  inquiry  into  country  or  school,  his  Charlotte  Temple  or 
his  Mysteries  of  Udolpho.  But  side  by  side  with  such  readers 
there  was  growing  up  a  race  of  scholars  in  America  who  were 
critical  of  each  other  and  who  were  to  be  criticized  by  the 
learned  men  of  Europe  with  whom  they  aspired  to  compete. 
Their  lot  was  indeed  hard.  A  Franklin  might,  thru  sheer 
genius  and  aided  by  residence  abroad,  get  a  hearing;  but  diffi 
cult  enough  was  the  lot  of  the  man  of  mere  talent.  If  in  1911 
American  scholarship  is  yet  lightly  regarded  in  some  quarters 
of  Europe,  what  must  have  been  the  attitude  a  century  and  a 
quarter  ago,  when  perhaps  the  most  powerful  of  its  countries 
had  reached  the  point  of  sullen  enmity?  Practical  equipment 
was  sadly  lacking,8  but  more  serious  still  was  the  absence  of  a 
medium  thru  which  an  author  could  approach  the  learned 
public.  As  might  be  expected  from  the  conservative  nature 
of  scholarship,  scholarly  publications  lagged  hopelessly  behind 
literary.  It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  it  was  largely  the 
publications  of  learned  societies  and  the  occasional  scholarly 
paper  that  suffered.  Noah  Webster  published  a  popular  dic 
tionary  ;  and  the  colossal  Ornithology  of  Alexander  Wilson  was 
issued  at  Philadelphia  as  strictly  an  American  work  (tho  doubt 
less  the  Scotch  claimed  full  credit),  on  "American  paper 
made  of  American  rags " ;  but  even  towards  this  class  of 
scholarly  production,  the  letter  quoted  elsewhere9  reflects  the 
general  attitude. 

8  Even  as  late  as  1822  the  "Complete  Woman  in  Wax"  ordered  by  the 
University  of  Transylvania   (Lexington,  Ky.)   had  to  be  made  by  "  a  cele 
brated  artist  at  Florence  "  ! 

9  Pp.  20-21. 


34 

The  adverse  conditions  confronting  American  scholarship  as 
late  as  1824  are  clearly  illustrated  in  a  circular  by  Carey  To 
the  Members  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  Philadel 
phia,  April  14,  1824.  The  proceedings  of  this  society,  which 
included  among  its  members  Franklin,  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Adams,  Rush,  and  others,  and  might  reasonably  be  supposed  to 
be  one  of  the  most  progressive  in  America,  were  published  in 
quarto  form.  Owing  to  the  size  of  the  volumes  they  were 
issued  at  very  long  intervals — nine  in  sixty-one  years.  "  Under 
such  circumstances,"  writes  Carey,  who  was  a  member,  "  it 
is  not  wonderful  so  few  communications  are  made  to  the 
society — the  wonder  is,  that  any  authors  are  to  be  found  to 
submit  to  such  delays.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  that  there 
is  more  temptation  to  an  American  author  to  send  his  com 
munications  to  London,  Dublin,  Edinburgh  (and  some  mem 
bers  of  the  society  have  actually  pursued  this  plan)  or  even  to 
Stockholm,  Petersburg,  or  Calcutta,  than  to  the  American 
Philosophical  Society.  In  six  months  he  might  have  a  copy 
of  his  essay  from  any  one  of  the  three  first  places — in  twelve 
from  the  fourth  or  fifth — and  in  eighteen  from  Calcutta !  Four 
years  is  a  tolerably  fair  average  for  the  appearance  of  a  com 
munication  in  our  transactions." 

A  few  entries  from  Volume  VII,  published  in  February, 
1818,  are  interesting. 

No.  2  read  Nov.  14,  1810  No.    7  read  Oct.  1813 

No.  5  read  Mar.  15,  1811  No.    8  read  Nov.  1809 

No.  6  read  Feb.         1812  No.  29  read  July  1795 

Volume  VI  was  published  July  I,  1809.  "This"  (scarcity  of 
publications)  "  could  not  have  arisen  from  the  dearth  of  talents 
considering  the  number  of  eminent  men  who  have  flourished 
here  during  the  existence  of  the  society  and  also,  that  for  a 
considerable  time  there  was  scarcely  any  similar  society  in  the 
country." 

As  a  practical  publisher  and  bookseller  Carey  urges  upon  the 
society  the  immense  advantage  of  publishing  their  transactions 
in  octavo  form :  they  will  appear  much  more  often,  be  more 
easy  to  handle,  and  more  generally  bought.  "  It  is  to  be  re 
gretted  that  the  mania  for  copying  European  examples  led  to 


35 

publication  in  quarto  form,  so  ill  suited  to  the  circumstances  of 
this  country." 

This,  it  may  be  remarked  in  passing,  was  not  the  only  ven 
ture  of  Carey  into  the  scholarly  world.  In  1810  he  had  at 
tempted  to  defend  Sterne  from  the  charge  of  plagiarism,  and 
here  as  in  all  his  writings  he  exhibits  admirable  common  sense. 
Whether  we  agree  with  him  or  not — and  many  critics  have 
taken  the  other  side — he  shows  to  what  lengths  the  source- 
hunter  can  sometimes  go.  The  following  year  he  attempted 
the  not  very  profitable  task  of  pointing  out  the  defects  in 
Hamlet,  especially  the  inconsistencies  of  Hamlet's  character. 
Yet  the  timid  and  slavish  mind  might  be  none  the  worse  for 
coming  into  contact  with  this  honest  opinion  of  a  fearless, 
robust  intellect.  In  1826  he  advocated  the  establishment  of  a 
college  in  Philadelphia  in  which  English  literature,  the  sciences, 
and  the  liberal  arts  could  be  taught,  and  for  admission  to  which 
no  Latin  or  Greek  need  be  offered.10  Mechanical  drawings 
and  other  sciences  were  especially  emphasized  in  the  plan. 

To  add  to  the  troubles  of  the  scholar,  there  was  no  adequate 
importation  law  to  protect  him  from  rival  editions  if  he  should 
attempt  to  edit  a  Greek  or  Latin  classic,  compile  a  dictionary, 
or  write  a  grammar.  The  evident  need  of  such  a  law  induced 
M.  Carey  &  Sons  to  take  up  the  matter. 

"J.  D.  INGRAM  Esq.  Jan.  8,  1823. 

"We  take  the  liberty  to  address  you  on  the  subject  of  the 
Bill  reported  by  the  Committee  of  Ways  &  Means  on  the 
importation  of  Books — believing  that  a  part  of  it  has  been 
framed  without  due  consideration  of  an  important  interest 
which  will  be  materially  affected  by  it. 

"The  General  principle  of  the  Bill  making  the  duty  a  spe 
cific  one  meets  our  warm  approbation,  and  is  what  we  had 
wished  for  several  years  past  to  be  done,  but  that  part  which 
relates  to  the  importation  of  Books  in  other  Languages  does 
not.  The  Committee  by  whom  that  bill  was  reported  was 
probably  not  aware  of  the  extent  to  which  the  Manufacture 
of  Books  in  the  dead  Languages  has  been,  and  is  likely  to  be 
carried,  and  for  the  same  reason  which  dictates  the  necessity 
for  such  provision  for  a  home  supply  of  Books  in  English  in 

10  Some  time  before,  Dr.  Rush  had  proposed  to  abolish  the  study  of  the 
classics. 


36 

common  use,  must  apply  to  the  case  of  those  in  Latin  & 
Greek.  To  show  you  how  far  that  department  of  the  business 
has  already  gone,  we  state  that  we  have  stereotyped  Virgil 
Delphini  &  Horace  Delphini  at  an  expense  of  nearly  $6000. 
Mr.  Warner  of  this  place  had  Ainsworth's  Lat.  Diet,  stereo 
typed  for  which  he  paid  $4500.  Ovid  &  Caesar  Delphini  have 
been  stereotyped  in  New  York.  Graeca  Minora  is  now  stereo 
typing  there  for  a  house  in  Boston.  Hutchinson's  Xenophon  is 
doing  there  for  us.  In  these  seven  books  there  has  been  in 
vested  a  capital  of  about  $20,000.  Cicero  in  21  Vols.  and  Taci 
tus  3  Vols.  have  been  printed  at  great  expense  in  Boston. 
Numerous  other  Classical  Works  are  constantly  printing  here, 
in  N.  York,  Boston,  Andover  etc.  All  the  Books  used  in 
Academies  &  Schools  and  nearly  all  those  used  in  Colledges 
have  been  reprinted  in  this  Country. 

"  The  effect  of  the  Clause  referred  to  in  the  Bill  now  re 
ported  must  be  to  lessen  very  much  the  manufacture  of  these 
books  as  it  is  impossible  without  some  duty  to  compete  with 
foreigners.  In  Europe  the  fondness  for  Classical  Literature 
&  the  demand  for  the  books  are  very  great.  In  this  country 
it  is  very  small  and  can  only  increase  by  the  gradual  republica- 
tion  of  Classical  Books.  We  hazard  nothing  in  saying  that 
the  demand  for  all  books11  of  every  description  after  republi- 
cation  in  this  country  is  20  times  greater  than  when  we  are 
dependent  upon  Europe  for  our  supplies.12  In  the  one  case, 
the  Publishers  &  all  the  booksellers  become  interested  in  the 
disposal  of  the  work,  as  the  one  has  his  edition  to  sell  and 
naturally  endeavors  to  interest  the  Trade  at  large.  In  the 
other  case  the  importing  Bookseller  receives  a  few  Copies  and 
it  is  to  him  a  matter  of  comparatively  small  importance  when 
they  are  sold. 

"  We  believe  the  provisions  for  the  duty  being  21  cents  per 
Ib.  on  all  Books  without  exception  when  imported  in  sheets 
or  in  boards  would  materially  lessen  the  present  rate  upon 
books  generally  and  could  hardly  fail  to  give  satisfaction  gen 
erally.  The  Books  now  generally  imported,  are  in  the  highest 

11  "  Extraordinary  as  this  assertion  may  appear  to  you,  you  will  find  it 
correct  by  making  enquiry  of  any  person  acquainted  with  the  book-selling 
Business  in  the  two  departments  of  Importation  &  Publication." 

"Elsewhere  Carey  makes  the  assertion  that  tho  he  imported  probably 
as  many  books  as  any  other  dealer  in  America  they  never  formed  more  than 
Yt  of  his  trade.  One  order  alone,  from  Dublin,  February  26,  1795,  had 
amounted  to  £548/0/10.  The  next  year  we  find  him  offering  to  salesmen 
and  correspondents  a  commission  of  I2j4%  on  American  works  and  8j<j% 
on  European.  This  doubtless  had  something  to  do  with  the  sales. 


37 

departments  of  Science,  and  those  connected  with  the  Fine 
Arts,  and  as  their  weight  is  generally  small  in  proportion  to 
their  cost,  they  wd  be  admitted  at  a  very  moderate  duty 
while  those  we  can  manufacture  to  an  extent  fully  equal  to 
the  demands,  as  Bibles,  School  Books,  Novels,  etc  will  be  in 
a  great  degree  shut  out  .  .  ." 

The  effect  upon  the  classical  scholar  of  a  total  lack  of  pro 
tection  for  any  scholarly  work  in  the  ancient  classics  was  of 
course  hardly  less  disastrous  than  it  was  to  the  publishing 
interests  which  so  vigorously  protest  in  this  letter.  And  when 
we  consider  the  bearing  of  the  third  paragraph  we  must  in 
addition  conclude  that  the  spread  of  classical  knowledge 
among  those  not  professedly  scholars  was  greatly  retarded. 

The  letter  also  shows  that  by  1823  America  had  the  ma 
terial  equipment  at  hand  to  supply  her  own  wants.  As  indi 
cated  by  the  letter13  of  Thomas  &  Andrews,  the  publishers 
thought  themselves  able  to  cope  with  the  situation  as  early  as 
1802,  provided  there  was  complete  cooperation;  and  by  1823 
we  find  individual  firms  strong  enough  to  attempt  it  alone. 
We  have  already  noticed  that  in  1792  Carey  had  written  that 
a  supply  of  imported  English  books  was  necessary  to  his  busi 
ness.  During  the  beginnings  of  the  book  trade  the  publishers 
as  well  as  the  dealers  had  sought  to  restrict  the  duty  on  books 
because  they  were  not  yet  capable  of  furnishing  an  adequate 
supply  of  domestic  manufacture.  Soon  however  they  began 
to  change  their  policy,  and  by  1820,  when  the  agricultural  and 
manufacturing  interests  were  clashing  over  a  protective  tariff, 
they  were  loud  in  their  demands  of  protection.  One  of  the 
interests  to  suffer  most  heavily  was  that  of  Bible  manufactur 
ing.  The  English  book  trade  at  this  period  was  greatly 
depressed.14  The  dealers  sent  hawkers  to  America,  who  can 
vassed  the  entire  country  in  the  special  interest  of  the  Bible 
manufacturers,  selling  between  700,000  and  800,000  Bibles  to 
subscribers.  Even  the  inadequate  duty  was  largely  avoided : 
for  when  books  were  published  in  more  than  one  volume  they 

13  See  pp.  23-24. 

"Other  branches  of  knowledge  suffered  also.  In  1801  a  North  Carolina 
dealer  sends  a  large  order  for  law  books,  asking  for  the  "  Irish  edition  as 
they  will  be  the  cheapest." 


, 


were  sent  to  different  ports  and,  as  defective,  passed  almost 
duty  free.15  Jefferson,  the  advocate  of  non-protection,  had 
taken  the  matter  up  in  1821,  as  in  a  letter16  to  Madison  he  urges 
the  repeal  of  all  duty  on  books  and  points  out  that  the  north 
ern  educational  institutions  had  united  for  its  repeal.  To 
Mathevv  Carey  more  than  to  any  one  man  in  America  was  it 
due  that  adequate  legislation  was  finally  secured.  The  manu 
facturing  industries,  most  of  all,  were  suffering  a  severe  re 
striction  and  in  many  cases  a  total  cessation  of  their  activities, 
while  agriculture  was  in  a  very  bad  way.  There  were  various 
theories  then  prevalent  to  account  for  this  condition  of  ex- 
\  treme  depression,  a  depression  which  wrought  greater  injury 
[  to  Carey's  native  manufacturing  city,  Philadelphia,  than  per- 
ihaps  to  any  other  in  the  country.  It  was  believed  by  some 
that  it  was  but  the  natural  result  of  a  transition  from  a  state 
of  war,  with  its  widespread  employment  of  men,  to  a  state  of 
peace,  in  which  large  numbers  of  the  temporarily  unemployed 
were  thrown  upon  the  country.  A  second  reason  popularly 
advanced  was  the  incorporation,  in  Pennsylvania,  of  forty-six 
banks,  with  a  capital  greatly  in  excess  of  their  needs. 

Carey  had  read  very  little  and  written  nothing  upon  political 
economy.    He  had,  however,  as  early  as  1816  helped  to  organ- 
ize  a  society,  consisting  of  only  ten  members,   entitled  the 
|  Philadelphia  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  National  Industry. 
''  The  leadership  of  this  society  falling  naturally  upon  Carey,  he 
began  to  make  a  deep  study  of  the  subject,  and  to  lay  the  foun- 
(dation  of  an  American  protective  system,  the  literature  of  which, 
so  effectively  contributed  to  by  himself,  was  increased  and  en 
forced  by  his  son,  Henry  Charles  Carey  (1793-1879),  one  of 
the  greatest  political  economists  America  has  ever  produced. 
Commerce  at  this  period  was  abundantly  protected,  as  anyone 
at  all  conversant  with  our  shipping  industry  up  to  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century  well  knows.    Agriculture,  because  of  the 
lack  of  an  European  surplus,  was  not  in  need  of  any  aid,  nor 
was  Carey  himself  personally  benefited  by  any  modification 

"McMaster,  Vol.  IV,  p.  513. 

"Paul  Lester  Ford,   The  Writings  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  New  York  and 
London,  1899,  Vol.  X,  p.  67. 


of  the  tariff,  for  "by  the  importation  of  books  I  had  never 
experienced  the  least  inconvenience,"  he  writes.  Yet  he 
entered  into  the  defense  of  the  embarrassed  manufacturers 
with  all  his  characteristic  ardor.  He  took  infinite  pains  to 
master  the  subject  to  the  neglect  of  his  business  interests. 
Within  the  first  twelve  months  of  his  activities  he  expended 
above  six  hundred  dollars  in  journeys  and  in  printing. 

The  most  popular  writer  upon  political  economy  at  this 
period,  and  its  accepted  authority,  was  Adam  Smith.  Carey 
read  Smith  with  great  care,  and  it  is  characteristic  of  the  man 
that  he  did  not  hesitate  to  attack  his  theories  in  spite  of  their 
years  of  intrenched  authority.  He  found,  he  says,  a  "  gross 
contradiction  on  a  most  vital  point,"  which  cast  doubt  upon 
the  main  thesis  of  Smith's  system.  This  contradiction  hinged 
upon  the  theory  of  "  collateral  branches  of  industry  "  which 
especially  excited  the  animosity  of  Carey.  He  undertook  in 
two  essays  to  prove  that  when  a  great  manufactory  was  forced 
to  close,  not  only  was  the  capital  decreased  or  lost,  but  that 
j  the  laborers  could  not  and  did  not  find  employment  in  agricul- 
••  ture,  etc.,  or  even  in  kindred  branches  of  manufacture, — that 
there  were  no  "  collateral  branches  of  industry "  capable  of 
absorbing  the  economic  shock  when  large  numbers  of  manu 
facturing  laborers,  skilled  in  one  line  only,  were  thrown  out 
of  employment. 

When  Carey  began  to  write  upon  political  economy,  he  had 
no  intention  of  going  beyond  these  two  essays,  but  they  were 
received  so  favorably  and  so  widely  copied  by  newspapers  in 
the  East  and  North  that  he  was  encouraged  to  continue  and 
he  wrote  nine  more  which  had  an  equal  circulation.  The 
society  behind  Carey  gave  him  fairly  effective  aid  at  this 
period  by  publishing  and  circulating  his  essays  in  pamphlets 
of  from  four  to  eight  pages,  in  editions  that  ran  as  high  as 
fifteen  hundred.  This  extensive  circulation,  thought  Carey, 
had  an  important  effect  in  converting  entire  sections  of  the 
country  to  protection,  where  protection  had  scarcely  a  friend 
before.  The  society  also  published  the  series  of  eleven  essays, 
together  with  two  by  another  member,  Dr.  Samuel  Jackson, 
in  a  book  of  two  hundred  and  eighty  pages.  The  career  of  the 
Philadelphia  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  National  Industry 


40 

was  not,  however,  a  very  long  one.  After  it  had  been  in 
existence  for  about  a  year,  the  Agricultural  Society  of  Freder- 
icksburg  published  a  memorial  to  congress  containing  some 
rather  severe  strictures  upon  what  they  termed  the  attempt 
of  the  manufacturing  interests  to  obtain  an  unjust  monopoly. 
In  reply  to  this  Carey  wrote  and  published,  in  March,  1820, 
a  pamphlet  of  one  hundred  and  fourteen  pages.17  It  was 
issued  under  his  own  name  alone,  for  he  had  used  stronger 
language  in  answer  to  what  he  considered  the  heresy  of  the 
memorial  of  the  Agricultural  Society  than  he  thought  the 
Philadelphia  Society  might  care  to  have  published  in  its  name. 
He  thought,  however,  that  it  should  be  willing  to  bear  its 
legitimate  share  of  the  publishing  expense  of  eighty  dollars. 
The  society  refused  to  contribute  on  the  ground  that  the  pam 
phlet  had  not  been  published  in  its  name.  Carey  withdrew, 
disgusted  at  its  meanness,  and  it  soon  died  for  want  of  a 
resolute  and  active  leader  such  as  it  had  just  lost.  Carey  now 
received  practically  no  support,  for  in  New  York  the  cause 
of  the  protective  tariff  after  agitation  for  about  a  year  had 
ceased,  temporarily  at  least,  to  be  regarded  as  a  paramount 
issue.  In  Boston  and  in  Baltimore  the  friends  of  the  tariff 
were  not  active.  Yet  Carey  remained  aggressively  in  the  field 
and  continued  to  write  and  publish  on  the  subject  with  extra 
ordinary  rapidity.  The  address  and  the  articles  afterwards 
published  as  Essays  on  Political  Economy18  were,  for  instance, 
produced  (except  the  preface  of  ten  pages)  between  March  27, 
1819,  and  November  21,  1821.  And  up  to  1832,  when  by  the 
victory  of  nullification  the  principles  of  the  protective  tariff 
suffered  such  a  severe  blow  that  for  a  time  it  seemed  hopeless 
to  advocate  them,  he  continued  to  write  and  to  publish  for  the 
cause  with  unflagging  industry  and  ardor. 

Not  only  did  Carey  receive  little  help  at  this  period  outside 

11  These  essays  by  Carey  and  others  of  his  of  a  similar  character  were 
afterwards  collected  by  him  under  the  title  of  Essays  on  Political  Economy  ; 
Or  The  Most  Certain  Means  of  Promoting  the  Wealth,  Power,  Resources, 
and  Happiness  of  Nations;  Applied  particularly  to  the  United  States. 
Philadelphia,  1822,  8vo,  552  pp.  Pages  169  to  187  were  written  by  Dr. 
Samuel  Jackson. 

"  See  note  above. 


41 

of  congress,  where  Clay  was  a  stalwart  protectionist,  but  he 
even  met  active  opposition.  The  same  attitude  that  was 
shown  towards  literature  of  British  origin  was  manifested 
towards  articles  manufactured  in  the  mother  country.  They 
were  looked  upon  as  better  than  those  of  domestic  make,  as 
undoubtedly  they  were  at  first;  and  the  importers  who  had 
early  built  up  a  business  were  interested  in  perpetuating  this 
opinion.  The  public,  then,  needed  to  be  enlightened  in  the 
matter  of  the  respective  merits  of  American  and  British  manu 
factures  ;  and  in  this  education  of  the  people  in  things  material 
as  well  as  in  things  intellectual,  Carey  played  an  important 
part.  Against  his  views  and  teachings  were  opposed  such  men 
as  Governor  Wright  of  Maryland  and  the  redoubtable  John 
Randolph  of  Roanoke,  who  is  said  to  have  made  a  solemn  vow 
that  he  would  never  wear,  nor  allow  anyone  connected  with 
him  to  wear,  any  article  manufactured  in  America. 

Just  how  hopelessly  ignorant  of  and  prejudiced  against  the 
manufacturers  the  larger  part  of  the  public  was  at  the  period 
immediately  after  the  War  of  1812  is  shown  by  the  tabulation 
of  the  objections  against  domestic  manufactures  which  Carey 
gives : 

"  I.  The  demoralizing  and  debasing  effects  of  manufactur 
ing  establishments. 

"  II.  Their  injurious  interference  with  commerce. 

"  III.  The  high  rate  of  wages  in  the  United  States. 

"  IV.  The  great  extent  of  our  vacant  lands,  which  ought  to 
be  settled  previously  to  the  erection  of  manufacturing  estab 
lishments  on  a  large  scale. 

"V.  The  extortions  practised  and  the  extravagant  prices 
charged  by  manufacturers  during  the  war. 

"  VI.  The  loss  of  revenue  that  would  arise  from  protecting 
or  prohibitory  duties. 

"VII.  The  danger  of  encouraging  smuggling  by  high 
duties."19 

These  charges  he  takes  up  and  refutes  one  by  one.  The 
opposition  of  the  agricultural  states  of  the  South  was,  of 
course,  the  most  potent  reason  why  the  protective  system  en 
countered  so  many  reverses.  Carey  at  all  times  tried  to  recon- 

19  Essays  on  Political  Economy,  Philadelphia,  1822,  p.  62. 


cile  the  agricultural  and  the  manufacturing  interests  and  to 
show  how  they  were  mutually  dependent.  To  the  fourth 
objection,  therefore,  he,  in  this  particular  essay  as  well  as  in 
others,  devotes  considerable  space.  He  had  formulated  for 
himself,  near  the  beginning  of  his  career,  a  set  of  eleven 
political  maxims,  the  ninth  of  which  reads  "the  interests  of 
agriculture  and  commerce  are  so  inseparably  connected,  that 
any  serious  injury  suffered  by  one  of  them  must  materially 
affect  the  other."20  This  sounds  trite  enough  to  us,  but  we 
are  wise  in  our  mass  of  accumulated  experiences,  and  the 
opinions  of  1819  are  yet  alive. 

To  prove  and  enforce  his  maxim  Carey  wrote  and  pub 
lished  in  March,  1820,  what  he  called  The  New  Olive  Branch: 
Or,  An  Attempt  to  Establish  an  Identity  of  Interest  between 
Agriculture,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce;  and  to  Prove, 
that  a  large  Portion  of  the  Manufacturing  Industry  of  this 
Nation  has  been  Sacrificed  to  Commerce;  and  that  Commerce 
has  Suffered  by  this  Policy  nearly  as  much  as  Manufactures. 
The  entire  pamphlet  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  octavo  pages 
(second  edition,  Philadelphia,  1821)  is  a  strong  plea,  as  the 
descriptive  title  indicates,  for  a  union  of  interests  between 
jarring  classes;  for  perhaps  Carey  saw,  even  thus  early,  the 
great  danger  that  threatened  the  Union  should  the  animosities 
continue  unabated — a  danger  which  actually  came  with  the 
Nullification  crisis  of  1832.  In  this  crisis,  too,  if  I  may  anti 
cipate  for  a  moment,  Carey  did  no  inconsiderable  service  as  a 
peacemaker. 

The  entire  body  of  Carey's  writings  upon  political  economy 
could  probably  not  now  be  collected,  for  many  of  them  were 
published  as  extremely  thin  and  perishable  pamphlets,  and 
many  others  were  written  under  an  assumed  name  and  were 
not  all  collected  or  acknowledged.  But  those  that  survive — 
probably  the  great  majority — display  such  prodigious  industry 
and  productiveness  as  to  give  a  feeling  of  discomfort  to  the 
average  person.  He  must  also  come  away  from  their  perusal 
with  a  feeling  of  admiration  for  the  high  motives  which 
prompted  Carey  to  devote  such  a  large  part  of  his  time  and 

» Ibid.,  p.  26. 


43 

energy  to  a  cause  in  which  he  had  only  a  humanitarian  and  a 
patriotic  interest.  Few  men,  even  when  personally  interested, 
ever  show  so  much  devotion  to  a  losing  cause  thru  such  a  long 
period  of  years.  The  reader  must  be  impressed,  too,  by  the 
candor  and  the  fairmindedness  of  the  man.  At  times  he  does 
indeed  use  language  more  impassioned  than  is  supposed  usu 
ally  to  comport  with  such  an  abstruse  and  impersonal  science 
as  political  economy,  but  it  is  always  directed  towards  showing 
the  unfortunate  condition  of  some  class  or  community  rather 
than  towards  a  personal  denunciation  of  any  particular  indi 
vidual  or  interest.  This  turn  of  mind  it  was  which  particularly 
fitted  Carey  for  the  role  of  peacemaker.  The  "  olive  branch," 
if  we  judge  by  the  number  of  times  the  expression  occurs  in 
the  titles  of  his  books,  was  his  favorite  emblem. 

If  the  reader  is  at  first  struck  by  the  self-assurance  of  Carey 
in  taking  up  and  writing  upon  such  a  difficult  subject  as  politi 
cal  economy  before  he  had  any  training  in  that  science,  he 
must  acknowledge  that  he  acquired  a  fair  degree  of  mastery 
in  a  surprisingly  short  time.  The  abundant  references  to  the 
authorities  and  to  the  original  sources  of  his  time  show  how 
carefully  and  how  widely  he  had  read.  A  favorable  impres 
sion  is  also  created  by  the  frankness  with  which  he  acknowl 
edges  his  liability  to  err.  This  trait  the  following  passage  well 
illustrates : 

"  I  throw  myself  upon  the  indulgence  of  a  public,  a  sincere 
desire  to  promote  whose  welfare  and  happiness  has  given  birth 
to  this  work,  which  is  published  with  a  full  conviction  of  its 
manifold  imperfections.  Let  me  be  permitted  to  add,  in  the 
words  of  the  great  Chaptal — '  I  have  neglected  nothing  to 
procure  correct  information.  I  do  not,  however,  pretend  to 
publish  a  perfect  work.  All  that  I  can  pledge  myself  for,  is, 
that  it  emanates  from  honest  intentions.'  Such  is  the  language 
of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  of  France,  respecting  his 
admirable  work  on  'French  Industry/  If,  with  the  immense 
advantages  he  possessed  through  his  official  station,  and  his 
unlimited  command  of  the  national  statistics — he  found  it 
necessary  to  propitiate  public  opinion  for  the  indulgence  of  his 
errors — how  incomparably  more  necessary  is  such  propitiation 
for  this  work,  labouring  as  I  have  done,  under  almost  every 
kind  of  disadvantage  to  which  a  writer  is  liable.  Let  me  ob 
serve,  as  an  additional  reason  for  critical  indulgence,  that 


44 

before  I  began  to  write  the  addresses  of  the  Philadelphia 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  National  Industry  in  1819,  I 
had  never  devoted  three  days  to  the  study  of  political  eco 
nomy."31 

If  Carey  was  by  nature  a  wielder  of  the  olive  branch,  he 
had  every  need  of  his  talent  before  the  end  of  his  career.  The 
reader  will  recall  that  in  1824  the  continued  agitation  for  a 
protective  tariff,  not  one  for  revenue  only,  bore  fruit  in  a  bill 
whose  essential  effect  was  to  exclude  from  the  American 
market  such  foreign  goods  as  competed  with  those  of  domestic 
manufacture.  A  convention,  of  which  Carey  was  a  member, 
met  at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  in  1827  to  discuss  a  still 
further  increase  in  the  duties  on  certain  articles.  The  attend 
ance  from  the  slave  states  was  noticeably  small.  Then  came 
the  famous  "  Tariff  of  1828,"  which  went  further  than  any 
other  in  prohibitive  duties,  especially  on  woollen  and  cotton 
fabrics.  The  southern  planters  were  alarmed  lest  Great 
Britain,  by  adopting  retaliatory  measures,  should  injure  the 
exportation  of  cotton.  As  a  result  came  the  critical  period  of 
Nullification. 

Carey,  true  to  his  character  as  peacemaker,  did  all  in  his 
power  to  relieve  the  tense  strain  which  threatened  civil  war. 
In  a  series  of  ten  letters  addressed  to  Henry  Clay  and  entitled 
Prospects  on  the  Rubicon.  Letters  on  the  prevailing  excite 
ment  in  South  Carolina.  On  tlie  means  employed  to  produce  it. 
On  the  causes  that  led  to  the  depreciation  of  the  great  staple  of 
the  state.  And  on  the  misconceptions  of  the  effect  of  the  tariff 
(Philadelphia,  Feb.,  1832),  he  endeavored  to  point  out  the  lack 
of  ground  for  the  uncompromising  attitude  of  South  Carolina. 
A  Solemn  Warning  on  the  Banks  of  the  Rubicon  followed  in 
July  of  the  same  year.  But  the  Nullifiers  refused  to  take 
warning,  and  in  the  same  month  Carey  published  The  Crisis.22 

In  a  meeting  held  at  Charleston  in  1832  Mr.  Adams'  bill 
and  that  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  had  both  been  repudi 
ated,  "  because  they  retain  the  principle  of  imposing  taxes  for 

*  Essays  on  Political  Economy,  p.  ix. 

*  The  Crisis,  An  Appeal  to  the  good  sense  of  the  nation,  against  the  spirit 
of  resistance  and  dissolution  of  the  Union.     Philadelphia,  1832. 


45 

the  purpose  of  protection,  which  is  a  power  not  granted  to  the 
Constitution,  and,  whilst  it  is  maintained,  will  continue  to  en 
danger  our  rights."  Taking  this  as  a  text  Carey  proceeds  to 
appeal  for  the  integrity  of  the  federal  government  and  the 
submission  of  the  states  to  it.  He  points  out  the  two  alterna 
tives  if  the  southern  states  should  persist  in  this  attitude — 
civil  war  to  maintain  the  Union  or  passive  submission  and  dis 
integration. 

"The  complaints  of  South  Carolina,"  he  writes,  "embrace 
four  objects:  the  distress  said  to  be  consequent  on  the  pro 
tective  system ;  the  unconstitutionality  of  that  system ;  internal 
improvements;  and  the  colonization  society."23  Carey  limits 
himself  to  the  first  two. 

The  long  years  of  advocacy  of  a  doctrine  so  bitterly  re 
pudiated  by  many  had  not  been  without  their  sting  to  Carey, 
and  the  dislike  of  a  body  of  his  fellow  citizens  was  so  bitter 
to  him  that  it  finally  drew  forth  this  cry: 

"  I  have  laboured  in  this  great  cause  for  above  thirteen 
years — expended  above  4000  dollars  on  it,  for  paper,  printing, 
journeys,  books,  postage,  etc.,  although  I  have  never  had  any 
personal  interest  in  it — neglected  my  business  while  I  was  in 
trade24 — lost  some  of  my  best  friends  and  customers — gave  up 
my  enjoyments — excited  deadly  hostility — was  subject  to  abuse 
in  and  out  of  Congress,  and  in  newspapers,  pamphlets  and 
stump  speeches — and  burned  in  effigy  in  Columbia.  So  far, 
nevertheless,  as  regards  the  public  interest,  I  do  not  regret 
those  sacrifices;  on  the  contrary  I  glory  in  them.  But  as  re 
gards  my  personal  feelings,  I  take  heaven  to  witness,  I  have 
reason  to  curse  the  hour  when  I  engaged  in  the  cause.  .  .  . 

"...  From  the  great  quantity  I  write,  it  is  supposed  that 
I  take  a  pleasure  in  writing.  This  is  a  great  error.  Writing 
is  to  me  irksome,  requiring  an  effort  which  is  painful."25 

The  Crisis  concludes  with  a  rather  remarkable  epitaph,  to  be 
used  if  the  nullifier  should  secede,  one  of  the  spectacular  meth 
ods  by  which  Carey  often  gained  the  attention  of  a  wide  circle 
of  indifferent  or  hostile  readers.  The  capitalization  is  largely 
omitted,  and  the  spacing  is  not  reproduced. 

*Ibid.t  p.  4. 

34  The  large  number  of  letters  on  political  subjects  among  the  corres 
pondence  bears  ample  witness  to  this. 
25  The  Crisis,  p.  20. 


t 

tl 


"  EPITAPH  " 

"  Here,  to  the  ineffable  joy  of  the  Despots,  and  Friends  of 
Despotism,  throughout  the  world,  and  the  universal  distress 
and  mortification  of  the  friends  of  human  liberty  and  happiness, 
lie  the  shattered  remains  of  the  noblest  fabric  of  Government, 
ever  devised  by  man,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
The  fatal  result  of  its  dissolution  was  chiefly  produced,  by 
the  unceasing  efforts  of  some  of  the  most  highly  gifted  men 
in  the  U.  S.  whose  labours,  for  a  series  of  years  had  this 
sinister  tendency,  by  the  most  exaggerated  statements  of  the 
distress  and  suffering  of  South  Carolina,  (unjustly  ascribed 
to  the  tariffs  of  duties  on  imports)  which,  whatever  they  were, 
rose  from  the  blighting,  blasting,  withering  effects  of  Slavery ; 
together  with  the  depreciation  of  the  great  Staple  of  the  State, 
the  inevitable  consequence  of  over  production :  caused,  in  a 
great  degree,  by  the  depression  of  the  Manufactures  of  the 
country,  in  1816,  1817,  1818,  1819,  1820  &  1821,  for  want  of 
the  protection  of  the  government,  withheld  by  the  miserable 
tariff  of  1816.  Here,  then,  at  length,  is  the  problem  solved, 
whether  man  be  fit  for  self  government:  and,  alas!  determined 
in  the  negative.  For  no  country  ever  had,  and  it  is  utterly 
improbable  any  country  will  have,  equal  advantages  with  those 
we  enjoy." 

He  further  contributed  to  the  literature  concerning  Nulli 
fication  an  Essay  on  the  Dissolution  of  the  Union,  written  in 
September,  1832,  and  signed  Hamilton.  The  pamphlet  is  an 
eloquent  appeal  to  the  people  of  the  South  to  preserve  the 
Union,  to  make  it  known  to  all  nations  that  a  government  by 
the  people  was  not  a  thing  of  a  season  but  an  enduring  reality, 
a  light  to  the  oppressed  and  a  rebuke  to  the  tyrannies  of  the 
earth. 

At  least  three  things  must  become  evident  to  the  person 
who  reads  the  essays  of  Carey  upon  political  economy,  and 
such  closely  allied  subjects  as  have  just  been  sketched.  He 
must  be  impressed  with  the  remarkable  energy  and  industry 
of  the  man.  His  grasp  of  his  subject  before  he  had  been  writ 
ing  any  length  of  time  will  be  disputed  by  few,  and  the 
patriotism  and  philanthropy  that  inspired  him  to  such  heroic 
efforts  must  inevitably  excite  strong  feelings  of  admiration. 
"  His  energy,  his  high-mindedness,  and  his  indomitable  per 
severance,  will  force  themselves  upon  the  most  casual  ob- 


server,"  wrote26  Poe,  and  tb~no  part  of  Carey's  life  does  this 
better  apply  than  to  the  period  from  1819  to  1832. 

To  return  to  the  somewhat  more  narrow  issues  of  political 
economy  as  applied  to  books  alone,  the  importation  of  books 
in  foreign  languages  was  seemingly  never  very  large.  There 
was  a  relatively  small  number  of  immigrants.  Their  educa 
tion  was,  comparatively  speaking,  probably  greater  than  is 
that  of  the  immigrants  of  the  present  day.  The  absence  of 
national  prejudice  on  the  part  of  the  Americans  permitted 
free  inter-marriage  among  the  whites.  These  conditions  com 
bined  prevented  those  who  sought  new  homes  in  America 
from  forming  communities  so  large  and  so  conservative  that 
they  were  still  inclined  to  feel  themselves  almost  a  part  of 
their  mother  country,  demanding  its  literature  and  making  no 
great  effort  to  acquire  a  mastery  of  the  language  of  the  country 
which  supported  them.  Such  phenomena  are  unfortunately 
becoming  visible  today.  French  was  not  read  so  much  as  at 
present.  Its  acquisition  was  probably  even  a  greater  mark  of 
culture,  but  it  was  not  needed,  as  it  is  now,  by  the  host  of  tour 
ists;  and  few  schools  taught  it.  French  immigration  was 
never  great;  and  that  brilliant  little  colony  at  Philadelphia, 
of  which  King  Joseph  was  the  head,  was  merely  an  episode. 
Tho  there  are  many  letters  from  France  in  the  Carey  corre 
spondence — especially  during  the  French  Revolution  and  im 
mediately  after27 — very  seldom  are  orders  for  French  books  to 
be  found.  Indeed  more  American  books  are  ordered  by  the 
French  than  vice  versa.  It  is  not  probable  that  some  other 
dealer  was  supplying  the  country.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
they  were  imported  at  Boston  in  appreciable  quantities.  In 
1801  we  find  Hugh  Gaine,  the  best  known  and  most  extensive 
dealer  in  New  York,  ordering  from  Carey  himself,  French 
books  not  of  a  technical  or  special  character,  but  such  as 
would  undoubtedly  be  classed  as  "light  reading"  in  North 
Carolina.  If  such  books  could  not  be  obtained  nearer  than 
Philadelphia  the  amount  of  French  literature  bought  and  sold 
in  New  York  must  have  been  extremely  small. 

MThe  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  Richmond,  1836,  p.  203. 
27  These  letters  are  generally  attempts  to  get  information  about  some  lost 
friend  or  relative — a  gruesome  sidelight  upon  that  great  upheaval. 


48 

The  case  was  very  similar  with  German  importations.  The 
number  of  colonists  was  greater;  and  tho  mere  numbers 
enabled  them  sometimes  to  retain  their  identity,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Dutch,  yet,  on  the  whole,  they  were  more 
quickly  adapted  to  their  surroundings  than  the  French.  If 
there  was  no  period  of  a  Grand  Monarque  for  them,  the 
former  citizens  of  obscure  little  principalities,  in  many  cases, 
to  look  back  to  with  a  pride  of  race  that  militated  strongly 
against  a  loss  of  identity,  still  less  was  there  a  literature  such 
as  France  possessed  for  them  to  draw  upon ;  for  the  crowning 
achievement  of  German  literature  was  yet  being  dreamt  of  at 
Weimar.  Outside  of  the  German  born  there  was  practically 
no  one  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  for  whom  books 
should  be  imported.  German  was  not  taught  in  our  schools,28 
and  the  knowledge  of  the  language — witness  the  wretched 
translations  of  Schiller  and  Kotzebue — was  small  indeed.  The 
interest  of  Charles  Brockden  Brown  in  German  literature  must 
be  pointed  out  as  something  remarkable.  In  fact,  as  we  shall 
see  in  another  chapter,  the  balance  of  trade,  if  not  in  our  favor, 
was  at  least  equal.  The  Dutch  were  soon  assimilated ;  and 
when  in  1822  we  find  arrangements  being  made  for  a  repre 
sentative  of  M.  Carey  &  Sons  at  Gibraltar  we  may  be  sure 
from  other  evidence  that  the  Spanish  importations  are  intended 
for  the  South  American  market.  The  dependence  upon 
Europe  then,  for  all  but  those  of  English  descent,  was  a  con 
dition  very  soon  surmounted. 

*  Frederick  H.  Wilkens,  Early  Influence  of  German  Literature  in 
America,  New  York  (no  date),  Reprint  No.  i,  Americana  Germanica,  Vol. 
Ill,  No.  2,  p.  60.  Blaettermann,  who  became  professor  of  modern  lan 
guages  at  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1825,  seems  to  have  given  instruction 
in  German,  but  the  first  regular  instructor  was  appointed  by  Harvard,  in 
1826.  Ticknor  says  that  in  1813  he  could  not  find  a  German  dictionary  in 
Boston,  but  had  to  borrow  one  from  New  Hampshire.  (Life,  Letters,  and 
Journals  of  Geo.  Ticknor,  Boston,  1877,  Vol.  i,  p.  n.)  Compare  Harold 
Clark  Goddard's  Studies  in  New  England  Transcendentalism,  New  York, 
1908,  pp.  202-206.  (Appendix,  "  German  Literature  in  New  England  in  the 
Early  Part  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.") 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE  GROWING  FEELING  OF  NATIONALISM  AND  THE  RISE  OF 
AN  AMERICAN  LITERATURE 

Just  as  the  Normans  could  not  long  endure  political  separa 
tion  from  France  without  becoming  Englishmen,  with  a  de 
sire  to  build  up  a  native  literature  and  social  and  political 
institutions  which  should  in  some  measure  be  their  own,  so 
the  Americans  soon  began  to  feel  that  with  a  new  government 
and  new  social  aims  they  should  have  a  new  literature — one 
that  no  longer  was  a  mere  reflection  of  a  more  brilliant  one 
across  the  ocean :  A  Conquest  of  Louisburg  must  be  replaced 
by  an  Eutaw  Springs,  tho  the  change  is  not  by  any  means  so 
rapid  as  the  juxtaposition  of  these  two  titles  indicates.  The 
quotation  from  Royall  Tyler  in  the  last  chapter  shows  that  in 
1797  there  was  already  a  strong  feeling  among  certain  men 
that  a  national  literature  was  necessary.  Not  every  one  how 
ever  was  of  this  opinion.  Joseph  Dennie,  the  gifted  editor  of 
Philadelphia's  most  brilliant  magazine,  The  Port  Folio,  was, 
for  instance,  strongly  drawn  towards  the  mother  country  and 
resisted  all  American  innovations  as  long  as  possible.  Yet 
six  months  after  his  death,  in  1812,  we  find  his  successor  ad 
vising  another  editor  to  this  effect :  "  We  know  that  there  has 
been  a  time,  when,  merely  to  have  been  the  growth  of  trans 
atlantic  regions,  constituted,  among  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  an  exalted  recommendation,  both  to  persons  and  opin 
ions.  Fortunately,  however,  for  the  dignity  and  self-respect 
of  our  country,  that  humiliating  period  is  passing  away.  Per 
haps  it  may  be  said  to  have  already  expired.  We  are  assum 
ing,  as  a  people,  much  more  of  a  national  character,  and 
learning  to  set  a  higher  and  juster  value  on  everything  com 
prised  under  the  epithet  American.  ...  To  contribute  to  the 
conformation  and  diffusion  of  this  patriotic  spirit,  by  giving  a 
place,  as  often  as  possible,  to ^jyaluable  papers  of  American 
5  49 


composition,  constitutes,  in  our  estimation,  an  indispensable 
duty  of  all  our  conductors  of  public  journals."1 

English  critics  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
had  looked  with  disdain  upon  the  attempts  of  what  they  still 
regarded  as  an  inferior  people  to  establish  a  national  literature, 
and  only  those  Americans  of  considerable  independence  of 
spirit  were  able  to  resist  the  infection.  The  general  public 
were  ready  for  the  rise  of  a  new  literature,  for  the  amount 
of  reading  was  large.  Charles  Brockden  Brown  thought  that 
tho  we  produced  comparatively  few  original  books  the  pro 
portion  of  readers  was  not  exceeded  by  any  country  in  the 
world. 

The  general  public,  in  strong  contrast  with  many  critics, 
regarded  the  nationality  of  the  author  with  considerable  in 
difference,  the  evidence  afforded  by  Cooper's  Precaution  not 
withstanding;  unless  perhaps  this  case  may  be  accounted  for 
as  peculiarly  temporary  in  character  as  being  synchronous  with 
the  new  and  widespread  vogue  of  Scott,  which  for  a  few  years 
did  lessen  the  popularity  of  American  novels.  As  early  as 
1790,  however,  Mrs.  Rowson  had  published  Charlotte  Temple 
without  attempting  to  conceal  her  identity.  Its  popularity  was 
immediate  and  enduring.  In  1812  Carey  was  yet  able  to  write 
to  her:  "...  Mentavia  never  was  very  popular.  The  sales 
of  the  Trials  of  the  heart  have  been  slow.  Charlotte  Temple 
is  by  far  the  most  popular  &  in  my  opinion  the  most  useful 
novel  ever  published  in  this  country  &  probably  not  inferior 
to  any  published  in  England.  The  Fille  de  chambre  is  like 
wise  popular — &  the  same  may  be  said  of  Reuben  &  Rachel. 
.  .  .  It  may  afford  you  great  gratification  to  know  that  the 
sales  of  Charlotte  Temple  exceed  those  of  any  of  the  most 
celebrated  novels  that  ever  appeared  in  England.  I  think  the 
number  disposed  of  must  far  exceed  50,000  copies ;  &  the  sale 
still  continues.  There  has  lately  been  published  an  edition  at 
Hartford,  of  as  Fanning  owned  5000  copies,  as  a  chapbook — 
&  I  have  an  edition  in  press  of  3000,  which  I  shall  sell  at  50 
or  62^/2  cents." 

1  The  Port  Polio,  Philadelphia,  1811  (sic),  Vol.  7,  pp.  171-2  (June,  1812, 
number). 


Nor  was  this  a  purely  isolated  case.  As  noticed  previously 
immense  numbers  of  Carey's  History  of  the  Yellow  Fever  had 
been  sold,  and  when  his  Olive  Branch  appeared  in  1814  its 
popularity  was  even  greater;  while  the  popularity  of  Brown, 
in  the  later  part  of  his  career  and  after  his  death,  is  well 
known.2 

In  one  branch  of  knowledge  the  Americans  were  clearly 
better  circumstanced  during  this  period  than  the  British — that 
of  exploration  and  its  attendant  study  of  races.  As  early  as 
1770  the  Abbe  Raynal's  book3  had  produced  a  sensation  and 
had  been  translated  into  almost  every  European  language. 
America  was,  say  by  the  time  when  Scott  by  his  advent  drew 
away  attention  from  everything  but  the  novel,  comparatively 
little  known  to  Europeans ;  and  in  fact  to  the  Americans  them 
selves,  for  Long  had  but  just  made  his  expedition  of  discov 
ery,  and  St.  Louis  was  yet  a  frontier  town.  William  Bar- 
tram's  Travels  through  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
East  and  West  Florida  had  gone  thru  two  editions  in  Phila 
delphia,  by  1790,  two  in  London  two  years  later,  and  by  1801 
had  been  published  at  Dublin,  Berlin,  Haarlam,  and  Paris.4 
Possibly  in  this  instance  the  popularity  in  England  and  Amer 
ica  was  partly  due  to  pure  charm  of  style,  but  this  could  hardly 
have  been  the  case  with  the  other  countries.  The  curiosity 
regarding  a  strange,  new  land  to  which  many  of  their  citizens 
were  emigrating  must  have  been  the  compelling  reason  for  the 
popularity  of  such  books.  A  trading  upon  this  curiosity  pro 
duced  such  slanderous  accounts  as  The  Domestic  Manners  of 
the  Americans  (1831),  American  Notes  (1842)  and  many 
more  of  the  same  sort.  When  a  regular  system  of  book  ex 
change  had  been  established  with  England  and  Germany  we 

2  The  sale  of  Brown's  novels  was  at  first  slow.  In  a  letter  to  his  brother 
Joseph  he  writes  in  1800 :  "  Book-making  is  the  dullest  of  all  trades,  and  the 
utmost  that  any  American  can  look  for  in  his  native  country  is  to  be 
reimbursed  his  unavoidable  expenses."  (Ellis  Paxton  Oberholzer,  The 
Literary  History  of  Philadelphia,  Philadelphia,  1906,  p.  167.) 

8  Histoire  philosophique  et  politique  des  etablissements  et  du  commerce 
des  Europeens  dans  les  deux  Indes. 

*M.  Katherine  Jackson,  Outlines  of  the  Literary  History  of  Colonial 
Pennsylvania,  Columbia  University  Press,  1906,  p.  148. 


52 


find  that  books  on  travel  are  those  continually  insisted  upon, 
a  demand  which  the  American  publishers  are  eager  to  meet 
and  American  writers  willing  and  capable  of  filling.  Offers 
of  journals  of  travel  are  not  infrequent.  In  1819,  D.  H.  Cot- 
terel,  who  has  spent  several  months  at  Panama  and  upon  the 
"  Isthmus  of  Darien,"  wants  to  publish  a  history  of  his  travels. 
He  writes  that  a  Panama  canal  is  "  not  only  feasible  but  easily 
practicable." 

The  first  regular  interchange  of  books  with  any  foreign 
country,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  find,  was  brought  to  pass 
thru  this  desire  to  learn  about  the  geography  and  the  history 
|  of  America.  In  November,  1793,  C.  D.  Ebeling,5  who  signs 
himself  Professor  of  History  and  Greek  at  the  Hamburg 
Gymnasium,  desires  to  open  up  a  correspondence  with  an 
American  publishing  house  in  order  especially  to  get  works 
containing  the  data  necessary  for  his  forthcoming  history.  In 
reply  to  the  first  inquiry  of  Carey  as  to  the  possibility  of  an 
opening  for  American  books  in  Germany  he  writes :  "  .  .  .  But 
with  regard  to  American  books,  I  must  tell  you  that  English 
is  not  read  so  universally  as  you  seem  to  think.  Most  of  the 
best  English  books  are  translated  immediately ;  the  Booksellers 
look  even  to  American  Books  already  in  order  to  publish  them 
in  German.  So  the  Description  of  Kentucky  you  sent  me  is 
already  translated  at  Nuremburg,  at  Leipsig  and  an  abridg 
ment  published  at  the  last  place  also.  Bartram's  Travels  are 
translated  at  Berlin.  Ramsay's  History  of  the  Revolution  also. 

'Christopher  Daniel  Ebeling  (1741-1817)  was  educated  at  the  University 
of  Gottingen.  In  1769  he  became  instructor  in  the  Handelsakademie  at 
Hamburg,  in  1784  Professor  of  History  and  Greek  in  the  akademische 
Gymnasium  of  the  same  city,  and  in  1799  city  librarian.  His  chief  work  in 
this  last  connection  was  the  recataloguing  of  the  library  and  the  introduction 
of  a  more  modern  system.  His  collection  of  maps  numbering  4000  volumes 
was  bought  by  Israel  Thorndike  and  brought  to  this  country.  He  appears 
to  have  been  one  of  the  very  first  European  authorities  upon  the  geography 
and  the  history  of  America.  He  is  the  author  of  thirty-eight  works,  of 
which  the  most  interesting  to  Americans  are  Amcrikanische  Bibliothek 
(1777-1778)  in  four  volumes;  the  Neue  Sammlung  von  Keisebeschreibungen 
(1780-90)  in  ten  parts;  and  the  Erdbeschreibung  und  Geschichte  von 
America,  which  appeared  (volume  one  in  1793)  as  part  thirteen  of  Busch- 
ing's  Erdbeschreibung. 


53 

Of  Morse's  Geography  three  translations  are  announced.  The 
Description  of  Tennessee  would  sell  if  the  map  mentioned  in 
the  title  page  was  with  it.  Carleton's  map  I  fear  will  not  sell. 

The  laws  of  the  U.  S.  and  your  magazine  as  also  the  

(illegible)  will  do  better.  .  .  .  From  your  Geography  not  more 
than  a  dozen  might  not  be  sold,  for  there  is  immediately  a 
translator  who  purchases  a  copy  and  advertises  a  translation 
for  half  the  price.  .  .  ." 

On  March  20, 1794,  he  says :  "  The  public  libraries  of  Gottin- 
gen  and  other  universities  in  Germany  wish  to  establish  a  regu 
lar  correspondence  with  some  active  and  accurate  bookseller 
in  America,  by  my  help,  and  have  given  me  order  to  procure 
them  catalogues  of  New  Books  printed  in  America.  They 
wish  to  be  provided  with  the  magazines,  but  only  under  condi 
tion  of  a  regular  continuation,  avoiding  defects  and  duplicates." 

Ebeling  contributed  an  article  or  so  to  Guthrie's  Geography, 
published  by  Carey.  He  ordered  American  books  in  large 
numbers  to  use  in  preparing  his  own  historical  works  and  he 
also  acted,  without  charge,  as  agent  for  Carey.  He  shows  his 
true  German  anxiety  for  extreme  accuracy  when  he  tells  Carey 
to  send  him  copies  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  western  news 
papers  no  matter  how  stained  or  torn.  The  entire  correspon 
dence,  covering  some  fifty  quarto  pages  of  closely  written 
matter,  is  very  interesting  as  showing  the  attitude  of  Germany 
at  this  early  period  towards  America.  Later  on,  Ebeling  turns 
the  exchange  over  to  a  regular  book  firm,  but  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  balance  is  always  in  favor  of  America.6 

The  demand  for  works  on  travel  was  not  less  eager  in  Eng 
land.  The  critics  there  might  sneer  at  the  poetical  productions 
of  our  country  and  at  our  novelists,  but  in  this  field  they  were 
disarmed  by  lack  of  information. 

But  something  more  than  a  mere  desire  for  knowledge  was 
necessary  to  establish  literature  in  America  and  to  obtain  rec 
ognition  for  it  abroad.  There  needed  to  be  a  deep  interest 
among  Americans  for  their  country  and  a  feeling  that' a  litera 
ture  was  worth  building  up.  In  neither  of  these  feelings  was 

8  As  an  example  of  what  the  few  Americans  who  knew  German  were 
reading  in  1816,  see  Appendix  IV. 


Mathew  Carey  lacking.  It  soon  became  recognized  that  in 
him  every  aspiring  author  had  a  friend.  When  an  enthusiast 
wants  a  new  edition  of  the  Poems  of  James  Gates  Percival, 
"  the  first  poetical  genius  of  this  country,"  it  is  to  Carey  that 
he  turns  because  of  his  "  well  known  devotion  to  literature,"  a 
phrase  that  occurs  more  than  once.  No  other  publishing  firm, 
even  in  proportion  to  its  size,  published  so  many  works  of 
native  production  between  1787  and  1824.  As  must  be  the 
case  with  every  firm  there  were  many  requests  for  publication 
which  could  not  be  granted;  but  no  other  publishing  house 
could,  during  this  period,  point  to  such  a  list  of  names  as  Mrs. 
Rowson,  Noah  Webster,  Freneau,  Percival,  Irving,  Weems, 
John  Neal,  Cooper,  and  many  others  of  lesser  importance 
whose  works  were  first  issued  in  whole  or  in  part  by  this  enter 
prising  firm,  which  also  first  printed  Scott  and  Dickens  in  this 
country.  Later  the  firm  or  its  direct  successors  published  some 
of  the  first  works  of  Poe  and  of  Simms.  Perhaps  the  enthu 
siasm  of  Carey  for  American  literature  inspired  some  of  his 
agents  to  exertions  in  its  behalf  that  were  altogether  too  unre 
strained.  To  the  Rev.  M.  L.  Weems,  who  never,  it  seems,  did 
things  by  halves,  it  is  necessary  to  write  in  1821,  "  For  Heaven 
sake  do  not  encourage  every  man  who  has  written  a  Book  no 
matter  whether  good  or  bad  to  apply  to  us.  You  worry  us  to 
Death.  We  have  full  as  much  on  our  hands  as  we  can 
manage." 

In  other  ways  than  as  the  mere  disseminator  of  the  works  of 
other  men  Carey  was  of  great  value  to  America.  A  glance  at 
the  chronology  of  our  literature  during  the  first  decades  of  the 
nineteenth  century  will  show  how  much  he  contributed  himself 
towards  keeping  his  own  typesetters  busy. 

In  1810  the  question  of  the  renewal  of  the  charter  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  came  before  the  people.  The  charter 
was  to  expire  on  March  3,  1811,  and  Carey,  who  had  acquired 
fair  experience  as  a  bank  director,  took  a  deep  interest  in  the 
matter.  For  three  months  he  dropped  all  his  business  affairs 
and  devoted  himself  to  securing  a  renewal;  because  he  foresaw, 
thus  early,  what  really  happened — the  disasters  consequent 
upon  the  excessively  large  number  of  state  and  private  banks 


founded  upon  fraudulent  or  insecure  foundations,  which  so 
largely  contributed  to  subsequent  panics.  The  great  majority 
of  Carey's  fellow  Democrats  were  against  the  renewal,  and  so 
he,  standing  alone,  was  regarded  as  a  traitor  to  his  party  and 
held  in  enmity  by  his  quondam  friends.  Undaunted  however 
by  this  isolation  he  began  vigorously  to  uphold  his  opinions  in 
a  series  of  essays,  seventeen  or  eighteen  in  number,  which 
appeared  in  the  Democratic  Press,  of  Philadelphia,  published 
by  one  John  Binns,  who,  though  personally  opposing  the  re 
newal,  gave  Carey  entire  freedom  to  promulgate  his  unpopular 
opinions  thru  his  paper.  Thru  the  columns  of  the  same  paper 
Carey  was  vigorously  assailed  and  in  the  Aurora  his  motives 
were  questioned,  and  his  character  attacked.  Yet,  undismayed, 
he  continued  the  somewhat  uneven  fight;  for  the  bank  directors 
made  little  effort  to  defend  themselves  or  to  placate  public 
opinion. 

The  principal  arguments  used  against  the  renewal  of  the 
charter  were  that  it  was  "a  National  Bank,"  and  that  when 
re-chartered  it  would  be  under  the  control  of  the  government, 
which  did  not  have  the  power  to  appoint  a  single  person,  direc 
tor  or  messenger,  connected  with  it,  and  in  the  second  place, — 
and  argument  dear  to  the  Democrats — that  it  was  in  fact  an 
English  bank,  a  branch  of  the  Bank  of  England. 

These  views,  and  many  another  of  lesser  importance,  Carey 
set  himself  to  combat.  But  his  efforts  were  coldly  received 
by  the  very  men  he  sought  to  protect.  When  he  applied  to  the 
cashier  for  information  regarding  some  points  he  wished  to 
refute,  it  was  refused  him  on  the  grounds,  as  he  afterwards 
learned,  that  the  directors  did  not  wish  it  to  appear  that  they 
had  any  connection  with  him.  Notwithstanding  all  the  efforts 
which  he  made  in  their  behalf  they  never  gave  him  a  vote  of 
thanks.  Carey  went  to  Washington  in  person  in  order  to 
influence  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  as  much  as  possible  in 
favor  of  the  renewal  and  to  convince  them  of  the  danger  of  a 
non-renewal.  As  he  followed  the  debates  in  Congress  he  marked 
what  seemed  to  him  absurd  assumptions  and  conclusions,  and 
in  order  to  expose  some  of  these  he  wrote,  in  a  few  hours,  with 
that  marvelous  facility  in  composition  so  characteristic  of  him, 


and  had  printed,  a  pamphlet  entitled  Desultory  Reflections  on 
the  ruinous  consequences  of  a  non-reneival  of  the  Charter  of 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  Some  unguarded  assertions, 
made  in  the  haste  of  composition,  appeared  in  the  pamphlet, 
which  caused  the  offended  speaker  to  exclude  the  Reflections 
from  the  House ;  but  nevertheless  they  were  widely  read. 
Carey  published  three  editions,  which  he  distributed  at  his  own 
expense.  A  second  pamphlet  of  eighty  pages,  entitled  Nine 
Letters  to  Dr.  Adam  Seybert,  Representative  in  Congress  for 
tJie  City  of  Pltiladelphia,  on  the  subject  of  the  renewal  of  the 
charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  was  likewise  dissemi 
nated  soon  afterwards. 

Among  other  arguments,  Carey  drew  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  government  had  sold,  to  private  individuals,  shares  in 
the  stock  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  some  few  years 
before  and  at  a  substantial  advance.  These  purchases  were 
made  in  full  belief  that  the  bank  was  to  be  as  permanent  as 
the  Bank  of  England,  otherwise  the  buyers  would  not  have 
purchased  at  any  price.  If  the  charter  were  not  renewed  it 
was  clear  that  the  purchases  would  fall  to  par,  and  the  pur 
chasers  would  rightly  be  aggrieved  at  this  betrayal  of  their 
trust  in  the  honor  and  stability  of  the  government.  The  oppo 
sition  to  the  bank  was  too  strong  to  be  resisted.  So  strong 
and  destructive,  in  fact,  did  the  mania  against  banks  in  general 
become  during  the  heated  controversy,  that  many  advocated 
the  abolition  of  all  state  banks  as  well  as  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  without  taking  thought  of  the  chaotic  financial 
condition  such  a  step  would  cause.  The  measure  for  which 
Carey  had  worked  so  earnestly  was  at  last  lost  in  February, 
1811. 

In  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  however,  Carey  had  proved 
himself  a  wise  financier,  for  the  untoward  influences  of  the 
multiplication  of  state  banks  and  the  general  suspension  of 
specie  payments  as  the  result  of  the  War  of  1812  showed  the 
statesmen  of  the  time  that  the  restraining  influence  of  the  "  old 
regulator,"  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  was  badly  needed, 
and  the  second  United  States  Bank  was  established  at  Phila 
delphia  on  April  3,  1816.  Indeed  it  might  be  said  that  Carey 


57 


saw  his  stand  twice  vindicated,  for  the  panic  of  1837  was 
largely  a  result  of  the  encouragement  afforded  to  unsound 
banks  by  the  veto  of  President  Jackson  to  the  bill  for  the 
renewal  of  the  charter  of  the  United  States  Bank  in  July,  1832. 

Carey  has  left  it  on  record,  in  his  Autobiography,7  that  he 
considered  that  the  three  most  important  achievements  of  his 
life  were,  the  publication  of  the  Vindiciae  Hibernicae,  the  de 
fense  of  the  Protective  System,  and  the  publication  of  the 
Olive  Branch.  To  the  average  American  the  first  work  is  of 
much  less  interest  than  the  last.  In  the  Olive  Branch  Carey 
has  treated  a  great  crisis  in  American  history,  the  internal  dis 
sensions  of  the  War  of  1812,  in  a  vigorous  and  helpful  way. 
In  his  pages  we  obtain  vivid  glimpses  of  the  bitter  wrong  that 
drove  our  country  into  that  struggle,  and  of  the  treacherous 
factionalism  whose  rancour  brought  the  Union  to  the  very 
verge  of  civil  war  and  dissolution.  We  had  met  disaster  after 
disaster  on  land.  The  Hartford  Convention  showed  the  danger 
from  within;  the  president  had  called,  in  his  message  of  No 
vember  4,  1812,  for  new  and  mysterious  legislation  against 
"corrupt  and  perfidious  intercourse  with  the  enemy,  not 
amounting  to  treason,"  and  sectional  and  partisan  feeling  was 
running  higher  than  ever  before  or  after,  with  one  exception. 
Civil  war  was  never  far  away.  Carey's  dedication  to  the 
second  edition,  January  4,  1815,  is  not  overdrawn.  "  Go,  Olive 
Branch,  into  a  community,  which,  drugged  into  a  death-like 
stupor,  with  unparalleled  apathy  beholds  the  pillars  of  the  gov 
ernment  tearing  away — property  sinking  in  value — the  country 
prostrate  at  the  feet  of  a  ruthless  foe,  anarchy  rapidly  ap 
proaching,  a  number  of  ambitious  leaders,  regardless  of  the 
common  danger,  struggling  to  sieze  upon  the  government,  and 
apparently  determined  the  country  shall  go  to  perdition,  unless 
they  can  possess  themselves  of  power ;  and,  with  this  view, 
opposing  and  defeating  every  measure,  calculated  to  insure 
salvation.  Appeal  to  the  patriotism,  the  honor,  the  feeling,  the 
self-interest  of  your  readers,  to  save  a  noble  nation  from  ruin." 

Carey  was  appalled  by  the  violence  of  some  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Federalists,  the  anti-administration  party,  who  opposed  the 

T  Vol.  VII,  p.  239. 


58 

war,  and  disgusted  by  the  inactivity  of  the  Democrats.  With 
a  mind  harrowed  by  doubts  of  the  continued  existence  of  his 
country,  he  sat  down  on  September  6,  1814,  to  do  what  he 
might  to  avert  the  disaster  which  seemed  imminent.  The  one 
solution  at  that  time  appeared  to  be  a  radical  change  in  the 
administration  whereby  the  cooperation  of  the  Federalists 
might  be  obtained  by  giving  them  a  fuller  share  in  the  control 
of  the  government.  This  he  thought  might  be  brought  about 
by  the  resignation  of  certain  members  of  the  administration. 
Carey  acknowledges,  on  the  one  hand,  the  arrogance  of  this 
plan  and,  on  the  other,  its  weakness,  but  the  situation  seemed 
too  desperate  for  hesitation.  With  this  idea  he  began  to  write. 
Then  the  news  came  of  the  defeat  of  the  British  at  Baltimore, 
of  Macdonough's  triumph  on  Lake  Champlain,  in  the  signal 
victory  at  Plattsburgh.  This  put  a  better  aspect  on  the  face  of 
affairs,  and  Carey  was  led  to  believe  that  a  candid  appeal  to  the 
honor  and  the  patriotism  of  both  parties  might  even  then  unite 
them. 

Yet,  he  writes,  "  I  was  struck  with  astonishment  at  my 
Quixotism  and  folly,  in  expecting  to  make  an  impression  on  a 
community,  torn  in  pieces  by  faction ;  a  prey  to  the  most  violent 
passions;  and  laboring  under  the  most  awful  degree  of  delu 
sion."8  The  patriotism  and  love  of  his  fellow  men  which 
always  so  powerfully  swayed  Carey  won  the  day,  however. 

"  I  should  have  preferred  by  far,  for  the  remainder  of  my 
life,  steering  clear  of  the  quicksands  of  politics.  None  of  the 
questions  that  have  heretofore  divided  parties  in  this  country 
could  have  induced  me  upon  the  tempestuous  ocean.  But  at  a 
crisis  like  the  present,  neutrality  would  be  guilt.  .  .  . 

"  While  I  was  deliberating  about  the  sacrifices  which  such  a 
publication  as  this  requires,  one  serious  and  affecting  con 
sideration  removed  my  doubts,  and  decided  my  conduct.  See 
ing  the  thousands  of  the  flower  of  our  population — to  whom 
the  spring  of  life  just  opens  with  all  its  joy,  and  pleasures, 
and  enchantments — prepared  in  the  tented  field  to  risk,  or,  if 

'  The  Olive  Branch;  Or,  Faults  on  both  Sides,  Federal  and  Democratic. 
A  Serious  Appeal  to  the  Necessity  of  Mutual  Forgiveness  and  Harmony. 
Sixth  Edition,  Philadelphia,  September,  1815,  p.  30.  All  references  are  to 
this  edition,  unless  otherwise  specified,  though  the  first  edition  of  November, 
1814,  has  been  collated. 


59 

necessary,  sacrifice  their  lives  for  their  country's  welfare ;  I 
thought  it  baseness  in  me,  whose  sun  has  long  passed  the 
meridian,  and  on  whom  the  attractions  of  life  have  ceased  to 
operate  with  their  early  fascination,  to  have  declined  any  risk 
that  might  arise  from  the  effort  to  ward  off  the  parricidal 
stroke  aimed  at  a  country  to  which  I  owe  such  heavy  obliga 
tions.  With  this  view  of  the  subject  I  could  not  decide  other 
wise  than  I  had  done.9  .  .  .  When  tender  women  have  freely 
gone  to  the  stake  or  to  the  gibbet,  for  dogmas,  which  they 
could  not  understand ;  it  does  not  require  a  very  extraordinary 
degree  of  heroism,  for  a  man  of  fifty-five,  to  run  any  risques, 
of  person  or  character,  that  may  attend  a  bold  appeal  to  the 
good  sense  of  the  nation,  with  a  view  to  acquire  the  benedic 
tion,  pronounced  in  the  declaration,  '  Blessed  are  the  peace 
makers.'  "10 

Inspired  by  such  high  motives  Carey  took  up  the  task  more 
vigorously  than  ever.  Even  with  his  usual  speed  and  his  extra 
ordinary  capacity  for  work,  it  yet  remains  something  of  a 
mystery  how  he  managed  to  produce  between  September  6  and 
November  8,  a  book  the  size  of  the  first  edition  of  The  Olive 
Branch,  for  aside  from  the  mere  composition,  the  amount  of 
research  was  extremely  large.  State  documents,  histories,  pri 
vate  correspondence,  and  newspapers  were  ransacked  to  estab 
lish  every  point  at  issue. 

The  first  part  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  a  review  of  the 
desperate  condition  of  the  country — a  condition  that  should 
have  caused  every  man  to  bury  the  discords  of  partisanship 
and  to  stand  upon  the  broader  grounds  of  mutual  forgiveness 
and  patriotic  toleration.  Then,  in  order  that  the  reason  for 
this  spirit  of  fraternal  patriotism  may  be  clear,  Carey  enters 
into  the  errors  that  have  characterized  both  parties.  To  the 
Democrats  he  charges  too  great  fear  of  the  federal  government, 
opposition  to  the  establishment  of  a  small  navy,  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  law,  Jay's  treaty,  and  the  non-renewal  of  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States.  An  equally  heavy  bill  of  errors  is  drawn 
up  against  the  Federalists. 

Then  apparently  Carey  asks  himself:  Is  the  war  a  just  one, 
in  defense  of  the  people  and  their  rights  and  waged  in  response 

9  Ibid.,  p.  15. 

10  Ibid.,  p.  34- 


60 

to  their  demand,  or  is  it  the  result  of  narrow  party  interest 
carried  on  at  the  expense  of  a  large  and  injured  section  of  the 
country?  He  proceeds  to  show  that  in  1805  and  1806  the  in 
dignation  of  the  people  and  of  the  mercantile  interests  in  par 
ticular,  the  latter  of  whom  were  the  most  determined  opponents 
of  the  war,  was  so  roused  by  the  pretensions  of  Great  Britain 
to  limit  the  trade  of  Americans  in  the  colonial  productions  of 
her  enemies,  that  they  seemed  almost  determined  to  force  the 
administration  into  war.  Memorials  of  Newburyport,  Salem, 
Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore  merchants 
during  these  two  years  are  given  in  full  to  prove  his  assertion 
that  the  merchants  of  the  country  had  aided  very  materially  in 
placing  the  government  in  a  position  where  war  was  the  only 
logical  outcome.  From  Newburyport  to  Baltimore,  he  asserts 
mercantile  citizens  of  the  United  States  goaded  the  government 
to  a  resistance  of  the  flagrant  outrages  and  high-handed  pre 
tensions  of  Great  Britain.  In  a  passage  that  exhibits  one  of 
the  characteristic  methods  of  the  work,  he  turns  upon  one  of 
these  bodies  of  memorialists  and  says :  "  When  the  merchants 
of  Newburyport  'Rely  with  confidence  on  the  FIRMNESS  and 
JUSTICE  of  the  government,  to  obtain  for  them  compensation 
and  protection,'  they  must  have  been  insane,  if  they  did  not 
calculate  upon  WAR  as  the  ultima  ratio.  These  are  the  worthy 
citizens  who  stand  recorded  in  the  annals  of  their  country,  as 
having  since  patriotically  pledged  themselves  to  resist  their  own 
government, '  EVEN  UNTO  BLOOD.'  ""  The  method  is,  I  repeat, 
characteristic,  but  the  spirit  of  invective  is  most  unusual  in  all 
the  works  of  Carey,  and  the  scarcity  of  such  passages  elsewhere 
shows  how  strongly  his  feelings  were  here  aroused. 

The  wrongs  so  freely  dealt  out  to  us  by  a  nation  which 
seemed  blindly  bent  upon  forcing  us  into  war,  are  dwelt  upon  at 
length  in  order  that  those  opposed  to  the  war  may  no  longer 
say  that  it  was  unprovoked  and  needless.  The  withering  effect 
of  those  futile  measures  of  retaliation,  the  Non-Intercourse 
Act,  and  the  Embargo  acts,  are  shown  in  full. 

But  what  of  course  finally  precipitated  the  war  was  the  im 
pressment  of  American  seamen ;  and  in  the  cause  of  the  sailor, 

11  The  Olive  Branch,  p.  101. 


61 

who  seemed  then  to  have  had  all  too  few  friends,  Carey  enters 
with  characteristic  warmth  of  heart  and  fullness  of  unimpeach 
able  detail.  Here  in  the  dry,  terse  language  of  naval  reports 
and  of  affidavits  are  narrated  outrages  and  burning  wrongs 
that  yet  make  the  blood  flame.  When,  over  the  signatures  of 
Commodore  Rogers  and  of  Commodore  Porter,  who  quote 
from  the  log-books  of  the  vessels  concerned,  it  was  shown  that 
one-eighth  of  the  crews  of  the  Moselle  and  of  the  Sapho  were 
impressed  Americans12  (who,  too,  were  doubtless  told  that  "  if 
they  fell  in  with  an  American  man-of-war,  and  they  did  not  do 
their  duty,  they  should  be  tied  to  the  mast,  and  shot  like 
dogs,"13),  the  full  enormity  of  Great  Britain's  crime  against 
the  law  of  nations  must  have  come  home  to  the  most  fanatical 
opposers  of  the  war.  But  not  content  with  one  instance  or 
two,  Carey  multiplies  case  after  case.  And  yet  some  said 
that  the  war  was  not  justified ! 

"They  deride  the  idea  of  struggling  for  the  security  of  a 
few  sailors,  whom,  in  the  face  of  heaven  and  earth,  they  falsely 
call  vagabonds  from  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland,  whom  our 
government  is  wickedly  protecting  at  the  hazard  of  the  ruin  of 
their  country !  Almighty  father !  To  what  an  ebb  is  man 
capable  of  descending !  Let  us  suppose  for  a  moment  that  the 
illustrious  Hull,  Jones,  Perry,  Porter,  Decatur,  M'Donough, 
or  any  other  of  that  constellation  of  heroes,  who  have  bound 
their  country's  brows  with  a  wreath  of  imperishable  glory,  had 
been  pressed  by  a  Cockburn,  their  proud  spirits  subjected  to 
his  tender  mercies,  and  crushed  by  the  galling  chain  and  the 
rope's  end!  What  a  scene  for  a  painter — what  a  subject  for 
contemplation — what  a  neverdying  disgrace  to  those  whose 
counsels  would  persuade  the  nation  to  submit  to  such  degrada 
tion!"1* 

Never,  said  Carey,  was  a  war  more  justified.  Our  trade 
with  fifty  millions  of  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  was  annihilated. 
In  little  more  than  a  year,  in  1803  and  1804,  over  twelve  hun 
dred  seamen,  claiming  to  be  American  citizens,  sought  the 
relief  and  protection  of  the  American  government  thru  the 
British  government  and  the  American  agent.  The  self-respect 

12  The  Olive  Branch,  p.  210. 
"Ibid.,  p.  213. 
"Ibid.,  p.  216. 


62 

and  prestige  of  our  nation  must  have  been  completely  destroyed 
by  further  submission. 

What  was  doubtless  one  of  the  most  convincing  and  con 
ciliating  parts  of  The  Olive  Branch  is  the  proof,  thru  the  statis 
tics  supplied  by  the  treasury  reports,  that  the  so-called  "com 
mercial  states,"  the  New  England  group,  were  really  at  this 
period  of  decidedly  lesser  importance  as  exporting,  shipping, 
and  importing  states  than  those  to  the  west  and  south  of  them. 
Their  contention,  then,  that  they  were  the  great  sufferers  by 
the  war  thru  the  blow  that  it  dealt  at  their  commerce  was 
greatly  weakened. 

That  the  book  sketched  in  such  limited  space  produced  a 
wide  and  profound  impression  is  beyond  question.  The  num 
ber  of  editions  testify  to  its  popularity.  At  least  eight  issues 
were  demanded — four  from  Carey's  own  press  and  one  each  at 
Boston,  Middlebury,  Vermont,  Cincinnati,  and  Winchester, 
Virginia. 

The  second  edition  of  one  thousand  copies  was  sold  out  in 
five  weeks.  Peace  did  not  limit  the  demand,  on  the  contrary 
it  increased.  As  the  New  England  states  formed  the  section 
in  which  the  work  was  most  necessary,  Carey  attempted  to  get 
it  printed  in  Boston.  His  offer  of  the  free  privilege  of  print 
ing  an  edition  there  was  accepted,  and  although  the  edition  ap 
peared  after  peace  had  been  declared,  it  was  immediately  sold 
out.  The  fifth  edition,  also  printed  under  gratuitous  privileges, 
and  issued  at  Middlebury,  consisted  of  one  thousand,  nine 
hundred  and  twenty  copies.  When  we  consider  that  The  Olive 
Branch  was  no  mere  pamphlet  but  a  decidedly  substantial 
octavo  volume,  we  see  that  its  utility  must  have  been  fully 
recognized.  "  No  political  work,  to  my  knowledge,"  writes 
Carey,  "  has  ever  had  an  equal  degree  of  success  in  America, 
except  the  '  Common  Sense/  Four  editions  were  sold  in  eight 
months;  two  more  are  at  this  moment  in  the  press;  and  a 
seventh,  as  I  said,  is  about  to  be  printed.  Nevertheless,  it  is 
not  quite  twelve  months  since  the  work  was  begun,  and  not 
ten  since  the  first  edition  was  published."15 

u  The  Olive  Branch,  p.  32.  The  copy  which  I  am  using,  and  presumably 
the  entire  (sixth)  edition,  has  pages  37  to  44  inclusive  renumbered  as  pages 
29  to  36.  The  reference  is  to  the  first  page  32. 


63 

One  need  not  go  far  afield  to  discover  reasons  why  The  Olive 
Branch  was  so  popular.  The  subject  was  one  of  overwhelming 
importance.  Too  clearly  could  everyone  see  the  imminent 
danger  which  threatened  the  Union,  and  tho  there  were  poli 
ticians  of  influence  and  power  who  were  willing  to  attain  lead 
ership  thru  the  ruin  of  their  country,  however  small  the  frac 
tion  of  it  which  they  led  and  however  despicable  the  methods 
employed,  yet  the  immense  body  of  the  people  were  patriotically 
alive  to  their  danger  and  only  seeking  light  and  certainty  in  the 
midst  of  doubt  and  distraction.  To  such  The  Olive  Branch 
must  have  been  in  the  nature  of  a  revelation.  In  its  pages 
they  found  not  the  unsupported,  exaggerated,  and  inflammatory 
excesses,  which  formed  such  a  large  part  of  the  newspaper 
articles  of  the  times  and  of  the  utterances  from  factional  pulpit 
and  platform,  but  calm  and  judicious  statements  backed  by 
documents  at  whose  authenticity  and  weight  there  could  be  no 
cavil.  They  must  have  felt,  too,  the  essential  fairness  of  the 
writer,  extended  even  to  his  hereditary  enemy,  Great  Britain. 
The  free  use  of  capitals  and  of  italics,  with  the  frequently 
admonishing  index  hand,  made  the  work  easy  to  read  for  even 
the  most  careless  and  unlearned.  Carey  was  no  mean  master 
of  argument,  and  many  of  his  points  must  have  gone  home  with 
decisive  force.  One  rises  from  a  perusal  of  The  Olive  Branch 
with  the  feeling  that  wide  and  accurate  reading,  a  vigorous 
mind  with  special  ability  in  polemics,  absolute  fairmindedness, 
and  flaming  patriotism  have  here  united  in  the  production  of  a 
work  that  falls  little  short  of  a  classic  of  its  kind. 

It  entitles  Carey  to  a  large  space  in  any  study  of  the  develop 
ment  of  American  nationalism.  As  an  impassioned  plea  for 
union  and  for  resistance  to  the  arrogance  of  Great  Britain  in 
the  impressment  of  American  citizens,  it  can  hardly  be  read 
without  a  feeling  of  indignation  for  Great  Britain  and  a  blush 
of  shame  for  a  party  so  treacherous  that  it  was  willing  to  let 
its  fellow  countrymen  meet  the  alternative  of  firing  upon  their 
flag  or  of  facing  the  gallows  or  the  hardly  less  horrible  prison 
hulk.  Poe  calls  it  a  "quixotic  publication,"16  but  with  com- 

16  Edgar  Allen  Poe,  The  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  Richmond,  Virginia, 
1836,  Vol.  II,  p.  203-5.  Article  reviewing  Carey's  Autobiography. 


64 

plimentary  connotation,  and  if  Don  Quixote  accelerated  the 
downfall  of  a  crumbling  institution  no  less  must  The  Olive 
Branch  have  caused  many  a  potential  overthrower  of  his  own 
government  to  pause  in  his  career. 

The  War  of  1812  was  in  itself  a  powerful  influence  against  the 
synchronous  development  of  a  national  literature.  The  condi 
tions  that  preceded  it  were  also  anything  but  favorable ;  for  the 
long  swell  of  the  two  titanic  movements  in  Europe — the  French 
Revolution,  and  especially  the  Napoleonic  wars, — was  always 
evident  in  America.  When  Ebeling  disburdens  himself  in  long 
letters  about  the  horrors  that  were  going  on  around  him,  when 
Cobbett  writes  of  the  movements  in  Great  Britain  that  he 
fights  so  bitterly,  both  are  addressing  the  representative  of  a 
country  which  was  hesitating  between  England  and  France. 
What  chance  was  there  in  these  hours  of  indecision  that  a 
great  literature  should  yet  appear?  When  an  Armada  is 
darkening  the  shores  such  a  literature  may  be  blossoming,  for 
in  such  a  case  there  is  no  division ;  when  a  great  cause  is  being 
lost  there  may  be  some  appealing  notes  of  a  passionate  regret, 
a  Conquered  Banner,  that  carries  conviction  to  all  hearts;  but 
when  sullen  hatred  and  mutual  distrust  are  predominant  there 
can  be  no  true  literature.  Mr.  Whitcomb,  in  his  Chronological 
Outlines  of  American  Literature,  found  singularly  few  entries 
for  this  period ;  and  we  can  hardly  accuse  him  of  being  too 
rigid  in  his  requirements.  The  political  situation  was  too 
all-absorbing  and  too  uncertain  for  much  energy  to  be  turned 
into  literary  channels. 

The  demand  for  books  during  the  struggle  was  extremely 
small — smaller  than  might  be  expected,  for,  in  striking  con 
trast  to  the  Revolution,  there  was  almost  nothing  except  the 
Olive  Branch  to  inspirit  those  carrying  on  the  war  or  to  allay 
the  feeling  of  party  hatred.  A  typical  letter  from  Richmond, 
Virginia,  August  24,  1813,  says,  "Business  is  remarkably  dull 
here  at  present.  We  can  sell  nothing  but  Military  Books  and 
among  them  Duane's  Handbook  for  Infantry  takes  the  lead — 
nearly  all  of  those  last  sent  me  are  already  sold,  and  the 
demand  is  still  great.  It  takes  a  long  time  to  get  a  parcel  of 
books  bound  here,  for  all  the  men  are  gone  to  the  war."  Only 


once  is  a  mistake  made.  A  shocked  Quaker  of  New  Jersey 
threatens  to  "dispatch"  "20  copies  of  Sword  Exercise"  by 
putting  them  into  a  "good,  large  fire."  Letters  of  agonizing 
doubt  and  fear  containing  no  reference  to  books  are  frequent. 
Evidently  the  strong  and  helpful  personality  of  Carey  was 
clearly  and  widely  recognized. 

While  the  retarding  forces  of  the  War  of  1812  upon  the 
development  of  our  literature  have  not  been  overestimated, 
there  was  another  reason  why  the  period  was  peculiarly  barren. 
One  race  of  literary  men  seemed  to  be  dying  out,  and  the  new 
one  which  forms  the  pride  of  American  literature  was  just 
coming  into  existence.  Fessenden,  last  of  the  Hartford  Wits, 
was  to  survive  until  1837,  but  by  1812  the  work  of  that  group 
was  almost  over,  as  well  as  the  work  of  those  writers  who 
made  the  literature  of  the  Revolution.  In  1812  when  Joel 
Barlow  and  Joseph  Dennie  died,  Harriet  Beecher  (Stowe)  was 
six  months  old — names  significant  that 

The  old  order  changeth,  yielding  place  to  new. 
Two  years  before  Charles  Brockden  Brown  had  died  and  Mar 
garet  Fuller  (Ossoli)  had  been  born.     Soon  Bryant,  thru  the 
North  American  Review,  was  to  begin  the  prelude. 

Deep  as  had  been  the  humiliations  connected  with  many  of 
the  features  of  the  war  and  dire  as  the  dangers  had  at  times 
been,  few  wars  have  been  equally  well  worth  the  winning;  for 
if  the  war  showed  America  that  it  must  stand  alone  politically, 
no  longer  to  be  divided  against  itself  in  favor  of  France  or  of 
England,  no  less  did  it  show  those  who  had  longingly  turned 
their  faces  towards  Great  Britain  as  worthy  alone  of  their 
intellectual  homage,  that  America  must  seek  her  guidance  from 
within.  Soon  all  classes,  feeling  that  they  truly  stood  apart 
and  must  play  their  own  game,  had  changed  their  attitude. 
William  Henry  Creagh  writes  from  New  York,  May  6,  1818, 
"  I  commenced  the  publication  of  a  weekly  paper  the  '  Euro 
pean  '  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the  Political  intelligence  from 
the  Old  Country  in  detail,  under  the  impression  that  the  Natives 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  generally  retained  their  ardour 
for  the  wellfare  and  interest  of  their  Native  Land  after  they 
had  fixed  their  Abode  in  this  Country,  but  I  was  so  far  mis- 
6 


taken  that  I  find  a  general  apathy  pervades  the  greater  part  of 
them,  and  instead  of  meeting  with  my  anticipated  success,  I 
have  not  sufficient  subscribers  to  the  work  to  pay  my  expenses." 
Had  the  venture  been  made  ten  years  earlier  the  result,  in  all 
probability,  would  have  been  quite  different. 

The  recovery  of  the  demand  for  books  was  fairly  rapid,  that 
for  educational  works  especially  so.17  In  some  localities  the 
scarcity  of  money  prevented  large  sales,  the  agents  or  dealers 
frequently  writing  that  the  people  want  books  but  have  no 
money.  A  typical  letter  of  the  period  is  this  one : 

"AUGUSTA,  GEORGIA  January  24th  1817. 

"Dear  Sir 

"...  Books  of  every  description  will  sell  well  in  this  place. 
Military  works  are  in  great  demand,  there  is  not  one  of  any 
kind  for  sale  in  Augusta.  I  can  find  immediate  sale  for  4 
or  500$  worth  of  Modern  Medical  Publications ;  Law  Books, 
such  as  are  suitable  to  American  practice  and  of  State  publica 
tion  are  in  demand.  The  following  Books  have  been  much 
called  for  Peak's  Evidence,  Bell's  Surgery,  Ainsworth's  Dic 
tionary,  Josephus'  Works,  Cicero  Delphini,  translated,  Horace 
Delphini  do,  Virgil,  Main's  Introduction,  Pockett  Testament, 
do.  Bibles,  Davis'  Sermons,  Reading  Exercises  or  sequel  to 
Mason's  Spelling  Book — Indeed  everything  suitable  for  a  book 
store  to  vend,  finds  ready  sale. 

Yours  etc.    JAMES  FINLATERS." 

We  have  seen  how  American  writers  gained  recognition  in 
Germany  thru  books  of  travel  and  other  works  of  information. 
There  seems  to  be  no  evidence  that  American  works,  others 
than  those  of  this  class,  were  read  at  all  there  during  the  first 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century.  But  by  the  end  of  1825 
America  had  built  up  such  a  mass  of  literature  and  her  younger 
generation  was  showing  such  signs  of  literary  ability  that 
England,  was  forced  to  take  notice.  The  year  before,  John 
Neal,  who  bubbled  over  with  patriotism,  had,  after  "  appalling  " 
the  American  public  by  his  genius  as  a  novelist,18  invaded  the 
enemies'  country  with  a  series  of  articles  in  Blackwood's  on 
American  Writers,  while  on  July  n,  1826,  only  six  years  after 

11  Several  letters  from  Thomas  Jefferson  relating  to  such  books  occur  about 
this  period.     See  Appendix  V. 
u  See  Appendix  VI. 


67 

Sydney  Smith's  sneer,  "Who  reads  an  American  Book?", 
Miss  Mitford  writes  to  Haydon,  apropos  of  The  Last  of  the 
Mohicans  (which,  be  it  observed, had  just  appeared  that  year), 
"  How  wonderfully  America  is  rising  in  the  scale  of  intellect ! 
...  If  you  have  not  read  the  American  novels,  do  so.  Depend 
on  it  that  America  will  succeed  us  as  Rome  did  Athens  ;19  and 
it  is  a  comfort  to  think  that  by  their  speaking  the  same  beau 
tiful  language,  Shakespeare  and  Milton  will  not  be  buried  in 
the  dust  of  a  scholar's  library,  but  live  and  breathe  in  after 
ages  as  they  do  now  to  us."20 

In  1830  we  find  her  engaged  on  the  compilation  of  Stories 
of  American  Life  by  American  Writers  which  she  prepares 
from  an  immense  mass  of  material.  The  work  she  thinks 
"  will  be  really  very  good — characteristic,  national,  various  and 
healthy."21 

If  it  is  now  evident  that  American  authors  were  able  to  get  a 
hearing  in  Great  Britain,22  no  less  evident  was  it  that  Amer 
ican  publishers  were  becoming  internationally  prominent.  In 
1816  a  London  bookseller  had  written  in  response  to  Carey's 
inquiry  that  "the  4ist,  Geo.  Ill  Cap.  107 — prohibits  the  Im 
portation  of  or  selling  of  any  Books  reprinted  from  English 
editions."  Evidently  American  publishers  were  more  than 
meeting  the  domestic  demand,  and  were  beginning  to  seek  new 
territory.  The  law  referred  to  seems  to  have  been  repealed, 

18  Compare  Frederic  Loliee,  A  Short  History  of  Comparative  Literature, 
London,  1906,  p.  297.  M.  Loliee  thinks  that,  in  the  novel  at  least,  the  time 
has  already  come. 

20  Rev.  A.  G.  K.  L'Estrange,  The  Life  of  Mary  Russel  Mitford  .  .  .  Told 
by  Herself  in  Letters  to  Her  Friends.     New  York,  1870,  Vol.  II,  p.  60. 

21  Ibid.,  p.  in. 

23  Wiley  &  Putnam's  American  Book  Circular,  April,  1843,  gives  the  fol 
lowing  classification  of  American  books  printed  in  England. 

Theology  68  History  22 

Fiction  66  Poetry  12 

Juvenile  56  Metaphysics  n 

Travels  52  Philology  10 

Education  41  Science  9 

Biography  26  Law  9 

Quoted  in  Congressional  Record,  Washington,  1888,  Vol.  XIX,  p.  3237. 


68 

or  else  not  enforced,  for  on  May  18, 1823,  Carey  is  able  to  write 
to  his  agent,  Mr.  John  Miller  of  Henrietta  Street,  London,  that 
"a  very  brisk  trade  is  now  carried  on  in  the  exportation  of 
the  works  of  Byron,  Scott,  Moore  etc.  etc.  Several  large  edi 
tions  have  been  reed  from  there  lately,  and  as  the  American 
Editions  are  handsomely  printed  and  at  a  low  price  they  will  be 
constantly  in  demand.  They  would  form  a  very  excellent 
medium  of  remittance  for  us  if  it  could  be  done  with  profit 
and  safety." 

South  America  was  also  a  field  for  American  enterprise,  tho 
many  ventures  here  appear  to  have  been  unsuccessful.  The 
first  attempt  was  made  at  Buenos  Ayres  in  1821,  but  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  absence  of  letters  and  orders,  it  soon  proved  a 
failure.  A  letter  from  Caracas,  June  28  (received  August  24), 
1822,  says  that  there  is  a  good  chance  for  a  bookstore  and  for 
the  sale  of  Spanish  and  French  medical  books  especially.  Ap 
parently  the  Spanish  colonists,  who  were  winning  their  freedom 
at  this  period,  sought  inspiration  in  the  heroes  of  the  American 
Revolution ;  for  this  letter,  as  well  as  several  later  ones,  contains 
a  large  order  for  framed  engravings  of  American  patriots. 
Spanish  works  on  Masonry  were  also  in  active  demand  as  the 
natives  "  are  well  disposed  to  initiate  themselves  in  the  Mys 
teries."  A  later  order  makes  a  special  request  for  Spanish- 
English,  English-Spanish  and  Spanish-French,  French-Spanish 
grammars  and  for  Spanish  novels.  A  few  days  previously  Carey 
had  made  arrangements  for  a  representative  at  Gibraltar  who 
should  send  him  copies  of  any  new  Spanish  work  of  interest 
that  might  be  published,  especially  "  Plays,  Politics,  Political 
Economy,  etc."  As  only  single  copies  for  republication  were 
desired  it  is  evident  that  the  books  furnished  South  America 
were  printed  in  this  country  and  then  forwarded,  and  that 
Carey  was  not  merely  a  middleman  between  Spain  and  her 
colonies  or  former  colonies.  If  any  further  evidence  is  needed 
it  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  firm  issued  a  Spanish  dictionary  in 
two  volumes  on  October  22,  1822. 

It  seems  best  here,  for  chronological  reasons,  to  take  a  brief 
Mirvey  of  some  of  the  activities  of  Carey  as  yet  untouched 
upon  and  not  immediately  connected  with  the  publishing  trade ; 


for  Carey  the  man  is  well  worth  more  than  a  casual  acquaint 
ance. 

The  feeling  of  love  for  his  mother  country  and  of  loyalty 
towards  his  people,  the  Irish,  was  never  obscured  in  Carey 
by  the  strong  sense  of  patriotism  towards  the  United  States. 
Ample  testimony  to  this  is  shown  in  his  constant  aid  to  Irish 
immigrants,  which  is  noticed  elsewhere ;  and  it  has  already  been 
pointed  out  also  how  his  injudicious  and  fervid  defense  of  his 
country  caused  his  banishment  at  an  early  age  to  France.  It 
was  this  feeling  which  impelled  Carey,  in  February,  1818,  to 
undertake  to  defend  Ireland  and  the  Irish  against  the  asper 
sions,  "the  unparalleled  libels  and  calumnies,"  which  had  so 
long  filled  the  pages  of  the  English  histories  of  Ireland,  and 
especially  those  unjust  accusations  regarding  the  insurrection 
of  1641.  Filled  with  a  burning  sense  of  indignation  at  the 
wrong  done  his  countrymen,  he  had  long  planned  such  a  work 
as  his  Vindiciae  Hibernicae?*  but  the  pressure  of  the  daily 
affairs  of  a  strikingly  busy  life  had  caused  him  to  defer  it, 
until  in  1817  the  deciding  motive  came  in  the  publication  of 
Godwin's  Mandeville  which  revived  many  of  the  legends  and 
horrors  of  the  pretended  massacre  of  1641.  Indignant  at  this 
perversion  of  the  truth,  and  desirous  to  offset  the  wide  effect 
of  this  pernicious  romance,  Carey  began  work  in  earnest  upon 
the  book  that,  next  to  The  Olive  Branch,  is  probably  the  most 
elaborate  and  sustained  of  his  literary  efforts.  In  addition  to 
the  incentive  furnished  by  the  romance,  Carey  had  at  this  time 
another  impelling  reason  for  writing.  The  question  of  Cath 
olic  emancipation  was  then  being  discussed,  and  he  felt  that 
if  he  could  only  remove  the  great  stumbling  block,  the  tales 
of  the  plots  and  the  massacre  of  1641,  he  might  give  most 
potent  aid  in  doing  away  with  a  situation  in  which  the  large 
majority  of  an  unfortunate  people  was  practically  held  in  sub 
jection  by  an  inconsiderable  minority. 

23  Vindiciae  Hibernicae :  or  Ireland  Vindicated:  An  Attempt  to  Develop 
and  Expose  a  few  of  the  multifarious  Errors  and  Falsehoods  respecting  Ire 
land  in  the  Histories  of  May,  Temple,  Whitelock — and  others,  etc.,  Particu 
larly  in  the  Legendary  Tales  of  the  Conspiracy  and  Pretended  Massacre  of 
1641.  Philadelphia,  1819.  (Second  edition,  Philadelphia,  1823.) 


70 

Carey  went  into  the  matter  of  the  preparation  of  the  Vin- 
diciae  with  great  thoroughness.  He  purchased  all  the  books 
that  seemed  to  have  any  important  bearing  on  the  subject, 
bought  a  share  in  the  New  York  Library,  procured  books  from 
the  Burlington  Library,  and  borrowed  everything  available 
from  his  friends.  Then  he  spent  six  months  going  through 
the  books  and  liberally  marking  in  parentheses  the  passages  of 
importance.  These  passages  he  had  copied  by  an  amanuensis. 
The  actual  number  of  works  quoted  from  is,  in  the  second 
edition,  seventy,  and  the  number  of  separate  quotations  is 
eleven  hundred  and  forty-three. 

The  methods  employed  remind  one  of  Dickens  during  his 
most  busy  period,  and  they  exceeded  even  Dickens'  in  the 
haste  with  which  the  copy  was  turned  out  and  the  pressure 
under  which  the  work  was  performed.  If  Carey  may  be  said 
to  have  been  a  genius  at  all,  he  was  certainly  what  has  been 
called  a  "  large  "  and  not  a  "  fine  "  genius.  Tho  the  following 
passage  from  the  Autobiography  (in  the  New  England  Maga 
zine,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  401-2)  may  be  a  somewhat  extreme  example 
of  his  method,  it  is  worthy  of  quotation,  for  almost  all  Carey's 
writing  were  turned  out  at  a  pressure  but  slightly  less  than 
here  described. 

"As  soon  as  I  had  twenty  or  twenty-five  pages  written,  I  put 
them  into  the  hands  of  Mrs.  Bailey,  my  printer,  who  every 
evening  sent  me  a  proof  of  the  matter  set  up  in  type,  and  I 
returned  the  proof  with  a  fresh  supply  of  MS.  next  morning. 
The  matter  was  printed  in  columns,  and  then  arranged  in  proper 
order. 

"  Thus  the  MS.  written  one  day  was  in  type  the  next, 
throughout  the  whole  progress  of  the  work;  and  I  was  rarely 
ever  more  than  one  or  two  days  ahead  of  the  printer.  I  need 
not  say  how  very  disadvantageous  was  this  plan.  It  fully  ac 
counts  for  the  want  of  order  and  regularity  in  the  work.  .  .  . 

"  By  a  destitution  in  my  cranium  of  the  bump  designating 
the  power  of  arrangement,  I  have  never  been  able  to  adjust 
my  matter  in  proper  order  till  it  was  set  up  in  type,  and  a  proof 
taken  in  columns,  so  that  I  might  have  a  thorough  view  of  the 
connection.  Thus  the  paragraphs  were  so  often  transposed, 
that  the  first,  and  middle  and  last  changed  places.  The  sen 
tences  underwent  the  same  changes, — some  were  wholly 
omitted, — some  transposed, — others  substituted, — and  thus  the 


71 

whole  appearance  of  the  matter  was  altered.  This  system,  the 
result  of  my  utter  deficiency  of  the  proper  mode  of  arranging 
my  MS.  had  at  all  times  greatly  enhanced  the  expense  of  my 
printing." 

The  Vindiciae,  he  continues,  cost  $135  for  corrections,  and 
the  setting  up  of  the  types  but  $369.  And  he  adds,  what  soon 
becomes  evident  to  his  reader,  that  he  was  "  at  all  times  ex 
travagant  in  the  article  of  printing." 

Carey  felicitates  himself  upon  the  number  of  his  quotations 
and  the  accuracy  with  which  they  are  placed  by  page  and  by 
edition,  so  that  refutation  charges  of  unjust  warping  of  an 
author's  view  would  be  impossible.  To  avoid  any  charges  of 
partisanship  he  practically  refrained  from  quoting  from  or 
referring  to  Catholic  writers,  but  used  Protestant  authorities 
almost  entirely.  In  these  two  features  of  his  work  Carey 
thinks  that  he  stood  much  in  advance  of  his  times,  and  in  an 
age  when  personal  vituperation,  misquotation,  and  flagrant 
partisanship  was  the  rule,  it  seems  that  his  view  was  justified. 

The  Vindiciae  Hibernicae  is  occupied  with  the  refutation  of 
eight  views  of  the  Irish  usually  held,  and  supported  by  the 
majority  of  the  British  historians.  It  is  not  necessary  here  to 
enter  into  a  discussion  of  each  of  these  points.  Two  or  three, 
however,  upon  which  Carey  throws  most  emphasis  may  be 
glanced  at.  He  especially  objects  to  the  assertion  that  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland  enjoyed  full  legal  and  social  toleration  in 
the  exercise  of  their  religion,  and  full  protection  in  their  prop 
erty  rights  during  the  forty  years  preceding  1641.  He  traces 
the  origin  of  the  assertion  that  they  did  to  Temple,  and  by  aid 
of  the  "  deadly  parallel "  he  attempts  to  show  that  Clarendon, 
Warner,  and  Hume  follow  Temple.  What  is  more  important, 
however,  than  the  fair  case  he  makes  for  his  side  of  the  matter 
in  this  way  are  the  extracts  from  state  papers  which  he  quotes 
in  rebuttal  of  Temple  and  his  imitators.  These  papers,  which 
seem  to  have  been  overlooked  or  ignored  by  Temple,  Clarendon, 
and  the  others  go  a  long  way  towards  proving  the  point  which 
Carey  is  endeavoring  to  establish. 

Turning  then  to  another  point  which  especially  aroused  his 
hatred  of  intolerance  and  injustice,  Carey  proceeds  to  prove 
that  no  real  massacre  ever  took  place  or  was  planned  in  1641. 


72 

The  method  used  in  this  case  is  to  point  out  the  inconsistencies 
and  absurdities  in  the  narration  of  the  occurrence  as  given  in 
Temple's  History  of  the  Irish  Rebellion.  Temple's  entire  ac 
count,  when  clearly  and  coldly  analyzed,  as  here  by  Carey,  is 
absurd,  and  so  Carey  scores  another  point  in  his  vindication. 
Most  of  the  other  historical  authorities,  he  shows,  have  again 
followed  Temple.  The  entire  testimony  upon  which  the  large 
majority  of  the  historians  had  founded  their  narrative  is  shown 
to  rest  upon  hearsay,  often  thrice  removed. 

Of  the  Vindiciae  Carey  says  in  his  Autobiography  (in  the 
New  England  Magazine,  Vol.  VII,  p.  239)  :  "  The  publication 
of  the  Vindiciae  Hibernicae  was  among  the  most  important 
operations  of  my  life — and  one  that  affords  me  as  much  heart 
felt  satisfaction  as  anything  I  have  ever  done,  not  excepting 
the  defense  of  the  Protecting  System,  and  the  publication  of 
the  Olive  Branch." 

The  entire  work  is  worthy  our  notice  as  revealing  once  more 
the  essential  fairness  and  want  of  rancour  of  the  man.  The 
judicial  cast  of  his  mind  comes  out  strongly.  This  is  one  of 
those  books  which  shows  his  "  Quixotic "  nature  in  a  most 
pleasing  light.  He  undertakes  the  defense  of  an  entire  people, 
and  attempts  to  change  the  verdict  of  the  opinions  of  two  other 
peoples  (English  and  Americans)  founded  upon  what  had  been 
received  as  history  since  Temple's  Introduction  of  1695. 

A  pamphlet  of  some  interest  related  at  many  points  to  the 
Vindiciae  was  published  at  Philadelphia  on  January  I,  1829." 
Perhaps  it  is  enough  to  quote  in  part  the  descriptive  title: 
Letters  on  Religious  Persecution,  Proving,  that  the  most  Hein 
ous  of  Crimes,  has  not  been  peculiar  to  Roman  Catholics:  But 
that  ivhcn  they  had  the  Power,  Protestants  of  almost  every 
Denomination  have  been  equally  guilty  ....  In  reply  to  a 
libellous  attack  on  Roman  Catholics,  in  an  Address  delivered  to 
a  Society  of  Irish  Orange  Men  .  .  .  By  a  Catholic  Layman. 
The  entire  pamphlet  of  sixty-eight  quarto  pages  is  a  character 
istic  plea  for  toleration  and  mutual  forgiveness  of  the  crimes 
which  Carey  shows  both  Catholics  and  Protestants  have  com 
mitted  against  each  other.  Among  those  "  liberal  and  superior 
spirits,  who  scorn  to  calumniate,  abuse,  and  villify  their  un- 

"The  copy  before  me  belongs  to  the  fourth  edition. 


73 

offending  fellow  citizens,"  to  whom  it  is  dedicated,  there  was 
none  more  liberal  and  just  than  the  writer  himself. 

Although  enough  has  already  been  said  to  bring  out  the 
fact  that  Carey  had  a  rare  spirit  of  love  and  helpfulness  for 
his  fellow-men,  that  fact  has  not  received  emphasis  com 
mensurate  to  its  importance.  It  was  not  until  his  retirement 
from  active  business,  in  1824,  moreover,  that  this  side  of 
Carey's  nature  had  full  scope  for  its  activity.  Up  almost  to 
his  death  he  was  engaged  by  voice  and  by  example  in  better 
ing  the  lot  of  his  less  fortunate  fellow-men,  tho  his  activities 
from  1824  to  1830  can  be  much  more  fully  and  accurately 
traced  than  from  1830  to  his  death,  because  of  the  greater 
amount  of  data  obtainable  on  the  former  period. 

In  the  first  cessation  from  active  business  duties  the  mind 
of  Carey  appeared,  as  was  quite  natural  in  the  new  and 
strange  leisure,  to  have  gone  back  to  the  days  of  his  youth 
and  the  scenes  of  Europe  therein  pictured.  He  was  seized 
with  a  desire  to  alleviate  transatlantic  conditions.  His  warm 
sympathies  had  been  previously  aroused,  however,  in  behalf 
of  some  of  those  Europeans,  especially  Irishmen,  who  had  been 
bold  or  fortunate  enough  to  reach  this  country.  In  1792  he 
had  called  a  meeting  at  the  Philadelphia  Coffee-House  of  a 
number  of  the  most  prominent  Irishmen  of  the  city  to  devise 
means  for  ameliorating  the  sufferings  of  the  Irish  immigrants 
who  were  then  arriving  in  such  large  numbers,  friendless  and 
penniless.  He  had  previously  prepared  a  constitution  for  a 
society,  which  was  read  and  adopted,  and  an  organization 
called  The  Hibernian  Society  was  formed  for  the  relief  of 
emigrants  from  Ireland.  Hugh  Holmes  was  elected  president 
and  Carey  secretary,  a  position  which  he  held  for  a  number  of 
years.  In  1834  the  society  was  still  in  existence  with  a  long 
record  of  usefulness  to  its  credit. 

Now,  however,  in  1824,  the  sympathies  of  Carey  had  wider 
scope.  He  formed  the  design  of  encouraging,  as  far  as  he 
could,  emigration  from  Europe  that  the  condition  of  the  masses 
might  be  bettered,  for  those  who  came,  directly,  and  for  those 
who  stayed,  indirectly,  by  the  slight  decrease  in  population. 
Perhaps  this  was  one  of  those  schemes  which  Poe  had  in 


74 

mind  when  he  said  Carey  was  "  Quixotic."  At  any  rate  Carey 
took  himself  seriously.  In  May,  1826,  he  published  a  pamphlet 
called  Reflections  on  the  Subject  of  Emigration  from  Europe. 
The  Reflections  was  intended  as  a  sort  of  handbook  on  the 
United  States  for  the  European.  Carey  endeavored  to  have 
it  circulated  as  widely  as  possible  in  Europe,  especially  in 
Great  Britain,  in  order  that  it  might  bring  to  the  attention  of 
the  common  people  the  advantages  of  the  United  States  to 
those  of  unassured  position  in  their  own  country.  He  de 
signed  it  moreover  as  a  warning  to  those  in  comfortable  cir 
cumstances  not  to  seek  America  as  an  El  Dorado  where  a 
competency  might  become  a  fabulous  fortune.  America  and 
Americans  are  discussed  for  the  benefit  of  the  foreigner. 
The  independence  of  our  citizens,  the  ease  of  acquiring  landed 
property,  the  small  burden  of  our  taxation,  and  the  freedom 
of  religion  are  all  entered  into.  In  a  love  of  parents  for 
children  and  the  mildness  of  discipline  Carey  finds  matter  for 
comment.  He  points  out  that  primogeniture  has  not  left  its 
curse  on  the  lives  of  the  younger  born.  To  the  agricultural 
classes  he  extends  a  modified  welcome,  while  the  manufac 
turers  are  warned  away.  The  mechanic  is  assured  of  ample 
employment. 

The  effect  of  Carey's  pamphlet  remains  shrouded  in  ob 
scurity.  It  may  be  deduced,  however,  that  it  gave  no  imme 
diate  aid  to  the  Irish  at  least;  for  in  July,  1828,  Carey  has 
another  scheme  again  on  foot  for  their  relief.  He  thinks  it 
possible  to  interest  the  employers  of  labor  in  sending  an  agent 
over  to  Ireland  who  should  make  clear  to  the  inhabitants  the 
manifold  advantages  of  America  and  the  means  by  which 
these  blessings  might  be  enjoyed.  Those  unable  to  pay  for 
their  own  passage  might  be  bound  over  for  a  period,  as  was 
often  done  at  this  time,  to  pay  for  their  passage,  but  under 
strict  watch  to  guard  against  this  period  being  made  too  long. 
August  n,  1828,  was  appointed  as  the  day  for  a  meeting  of 
all  those  interested.  But  alas !  a  little  footnote  records  inter 
est  as  a  minus  quantity. 

If,  however,  the  reader  is  inclined  to  smile  at  these  two 
schemes  of  Carey,  however  much  he  may  sympathize  with 


75 

the  desire  to  aid  humanity  which  prompted  them,  he  can  rest 
assured  that  fruit  was  not  wanting  to  most  of  the  labors  of 
the  formulator.  For  many  years  Carey  had  been  actively 
engaged  in  charitable  work  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  where 
the  poor  laboring  women  in  particular  recognized  in  him  an 
unwearying  friend.  The  ever-present  denouncer  of  charity 
as  an  encouragement  to  idleness  seems  to  have  been  particu 
larly  obnoxious  in  Philadelphia  in  1829;  for  in  March  of  that 
year  Carey  wrote  an  elaborate  pamphlet  entitled  Essays  on  the 
Public  Chanties  of  Philadelphia,  in  which,  to  paraphrase  the 
rest  of  the  descriptive  title,  he  vindicates  the  benevolent  socie 
ties  of  the  city  from  the  charge  of  encouraging  idleness,  and 
places  in  strong  relief  the  suffering  and  oppression  under 
which  labored  the  greater  part  of  the  women  who  depended 
on  their  industry  for  the  support  of  themselves  and  their 
children. 

This  pamphlet,  which  Carey  says  cost  him  "more  time, 
labour,  and  expense,  than  articles  four  times  the  size,"  reached 
at  least  five  editions,  the  first  three  of  which  were  printed  and 
distributed  gratuitously  by  the  author,  and  the  fourth  of  which 
was  published  partly  at  his  expense.  While  not  an  advocate 
of  woman's  rights  as  now  understood,  his  sympathies  were 
actively  aroused  by  the  miserable  compensation  offered  the 
woman  who  had  to  support  herself,  and  perhaps  a  family. 
As  the  head  of  a  committee  he  addressed  a  letter,  January 
13,  1829,  to  P.  B.  Porter,  then  Secretary  of  War,  remonstrat 
ing  with  the  government  against  the  inadequate  wages  paid  to 
women  for  making  the  governmental  clothing  for  soldiers. 
Some  correspondence  ensued,  but  the  government  seemed 
disinclined  to  make  a  change.  Carey  draws  a  depressing  pic 
ture  of  the  misery  and  poverty  in  the  Philadelphia  of  his  day. 
He  always  combats  the  opinion,  so  prevalent  among  the  rich, 
that  the  poor  bring  about  their  own  evil  condition  thru  idle 
ness  and  mismanagement.  Elsewhere  he  has  an  effective  essay 
on  the  pernicious  effect  of  continued,  undeserved  misfortune 
upon  human  character.  The  idea  that  such  adversity  is  a  good 
school  for  the  great  mass  of  humanity  he  shows  is  totally  erro 
neous.  Such  vigorous  attacks  upon  the  accepted  cant  of  his 


76 

times  show  once  more  Carey's  mental  independence  and  clear 
ness  of  vision. 

"That  the  low  rate  of  female  wages — is  discreditable  to 
human  nature — pernicious  to  the  best  interests  of  society — 
a  fertile  source  of  misery,  immorality  and  profligacy — and 
loudly  calls  for  a  remedy  "25  is  the  theme  he  recurs  to  in  for 
cible  and  at  times  eloquent  terms.  As  one  of  a  committee  of 
seven  he  made  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  question,  the 
results  of  which  are  embodied  in  his  "  Report  on  Female 
Wages,"  March  25,  1829.  In  the  address  "To  the  Ladies 
who  have  undertaken  to  establish  a  House  of  Industry 
in  New  York,"  May  u,  1830,  he  points  out  that  the  house, 
if  it  pay  inadequate  wages,  would  be  almost  a  curse  rather 
than  a  blessing.  The  "  Address  submitted  for  consideration 
to,  and  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Impartial 
Humane  Society  of  Baltimore,"  May  15,  1830,  is  a  contribu 
tion  to  the  same  subject.  Is  it  not  significant  that  organiza 
tions  in  these  two  cities  should  be  seeking  his  aid?  The 
Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor  was  formed 
upon  the  plan  Carey  suggested,  and  began  its  work  in  Phila 
delphia  on  October  I,  1829.  The  influence  Carey  exerted  in 
arousing  the  pity  of  the  charitably  inclined  and  in  opening  the 
eyes  of  the  ignorant  is  not  easily  overestimated. 

While  Carey  was  thus  engaged  in  relieving  suffering  at 
home,  he  had  energy  and  sympathy  enough  to  follow  with  deep 
attention  a  great  drama  then  being  enacted  in  southeastern 
Europe — the  Greek  Revolution.  Edward  Everett,  the  rep 
resentative  of  Massachusetts  in  the  lower  house  of  Congress, 
writing  from  Washington,  December  7,  1826,  to  Carey,  at 
that  time  head  of  a  committee  formed  for  the  relief  of  the 
Greeks,  recommends  that  provisions  be  sent  to  the  famine- 
stricken  people  then  waging,  against  Turkey,  a  war  for  free 
dom  that  should  have  aroused  the  armed  interference  of 
Europe,  but  that  seems  to  have  excited  small  official  attention 

*  Public  Charities  in  Philadelphia,  republished  in  Miscellaneous  Essays, 
Philadelphia,  1830,  p.  203.  This  volume  (xii  -f-  472,  80)  contains  a  wide 
variety  of  the  essays  of  Carey,  and  is  the  best  single  publication  for  obtain 
ing  a  glimpse  of  the  multifold  activities  and  catholic  tastes  of  the  author. 


77 

from  any  government.  Four  days  after  the  receipt  of  this 
letter,  Carey,  as  chairman,  issued  an  eloquent  appeal  to  the 
public  "  in  the  hope  of  awaking  the  slumbering  sympathies  of 
this  great  and  rising  empire  in  favor  of  one  of  the  most  inter 
esting  nations  that  ever  existed — a  nation  whose  struggles  for 
everything  dear  and  sacred  to  human  nature,  under  almost 
every  possible  disadvantage,  has  never  been  exceeded,  and  but 
rarely  equalled,  for  the  most  inflexible  devotion  to  country, 
and  the  most  heroic  valour.  The  annals  of  the  world,  since 
ruthless  warfare  began  to  devour  the  human  race,  presents 
nothing  of  patriotism  and  bravery  more  honourable  to  our 
nature  than  the  defense  of  Missolonghi."26 

Since  it  seemed  impossible  to  secure  armed  intervention  by 
the  government,  Carey  devoted  all  his  energies  to  raising 
funds  for  the  relief  of  the  wounded  and  the  helpless  non- 
combatants.  In  The  Case  of  the  Greeks,  he  dwells  upon  the 
unhappy  fate  which  awaits  the  helpless  women  when  taken 
captive;  he  compares  our  Revolution  with  that  which  the 
Greeks  were  waging — the  provocation  to  resistance  so  infi 
nitely  less,  the  aid  afforded  the  Greeks  so  strikingly  in  contrast 
to  that  we  received,  and  the  results  of  a  failure  so  appallingly 
more  tragic.  One  of  his  most  eloquent  appeals  was  issued 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  committee.  Of  this  action  Carey 
writes  a  defense  characteristically  free  and  determined. 

"  If,  however,  '  offences  must  come/  in  the  discharge  of 
duty,  I  cannot,  will  not  shrink  from  its  performance  on  that 
account.  I  unhesitatingly  steered  that  course  at  an  earlier 
period  of  life,  when  I  held  my  fortunes  and  the  support  of 
a  numerous  family  by  the  very  frail  tenure  of  public  opinion, 
almost  as  fickle  as  the  wind  itself;  and  it  would  be  extra 
ordinary  and  inconsistent,  indeed,  to  change  the  system,  in 
my  present  circumstances,  with  little  to  hope  or  fear  from 
mankind — and  having,  moreover,  arrived  at  that  advanced 
stage  of  existence,  which  nearly  touches  the  goal  which  sepa 
rates  time  from  eternity."27 

Other  activities  of  Carey  which  show  him  more  or  less  as  a 
philanthropist  may  be  briefly  noticed  here.  In  January,  1827, 

38  The  Case  of  the  Greeks,  in  Miscellaneous  Essays,  p.  298. 
27  Ibid.,  p.  305-6. 


78 

he  tried  to  secure  a  change  in  the  system  whereby  regiments 
of  artillery  were  periodically  shifted  from  one  part  of  the 
country  to  another.  The  next  year  he  addressed  a  strong 
appeal  to  Congress  to  pension  the  needy  soldiers — especially 
the  officers — of  the  Revolution,  or  to  make  them  some  financial 
remuneration  for  losses  which  many  of  them  had  incurred. 
He  attacked  the  race  question  in  September,  i82Q.28  Argu 
ing  from  statistics,  he  showed  that  by  the  year  1870  the 
negroes  in  many  of  the  southern  states  would  exceed  the  num 
ber  of  whites,  a  truly  appalling  condition,  he  thinks.  Some  two 
years  before,  Carey  had  written  two  pamphlets29  on  emanci 
pation,  in  which,  however,  he  arrived  at  no  very  definite  con 
clusions.  Forcible  emancipation  seemed  to  him  too  absurd  to 
be  discussed.  He  turned  then  later  to  Liberia,  involved  in 
formidable  difficulties  tho  it  was,  as  the  solution  of  the  problem. 
In  1827  Carey  was  led  to  advocate  the  establishment  of 
infant  schools  or  kindergartens,  rather  as  a  philanthropic 
work  than  as  an  educational  venture.  Such  schools,  by  re 
lieving  the  working  woman  from  household  cares,  would,  his 
idea  was,  enable  her  to  work  more  effectively  for  support. 
One  other  item  which  should  not  be  omitted  is  that  Carey 
in  1796  established  the  first  Sunday-school  society. 

*  African  Colonization,  in  Miscellaneous  Essays,  pp.  214-18. 
"  Emancipation   of    the   Slaves   in    the    United   States,   in    Miscellaneous 
Essays,  pp.  2 ."3-32. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  STRUGGLE  OF  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  AGAINST  THE 

EXPLOITATION  OF  FOREIGN  AUTHORS  BY  AMERICAN 

PUBLISHERS 

"LONGMAN  &  Co.  April  I5th,  1817. 

1  .  .  .  We  are  very  desirous  to  make  some  arrangement  by 
which  we  should  receive  such  new  works  that  come  out  as  may 
be  likely  to  bear  publication  in  this  Country.  If  you  can  make 
any  such  arrangements  for  us  we  will  allow  Two  hundred  & 
fifty  dollars  per  annum,  provided  the  person  will  forward  them 
per  first  vessel  from  London  or  Liverpool  in  order  that  we 
may  receive  them  first.  .  .  .  Our  booksellers  are  so  very  active 
that  it  would  require  very  considerable  attention  to  forward 
them  by  first  and  fastest  sailing  vessels.  We  should  wish  to 
receive  every  new  work  of  popularity  and  particularly  those 
of  Miss  Porter,  Lord  Byron,  Miss  Edgeworth,  W.  Scott,  Leigh 
Hunt,  Author  of  Waverley,  Moore,  Miss  Burney,  Mrs.  Taylor, 
Lady  Morgan,  Dugald  Stuart,  etc.,  etc.  We  are  particularly 
desirous  to  receive  Mclntosh's  Great  Britain,  Vol.  I  as  soon 
as  out.  In  short  we  should  wish  the  person  who  might  under 
take  it,  to  use  his  judgment  in  selecting  for  us  every  work  at 
all  likely  to  bear  republication — New  Voyages  and  Travels  of 
merit  are  also  requested." 

The  significance  of  the  paragraph  quoted  above  is  not  easily 
overestimated;  for  if  it  be  the  first  of  its  character,  and,  so 
far  as  I  can  find,  it  is,  it  indicates  the  genesis  of  an  influence 
that  was  to  contribute  very  largely  to  the  development  of  the 
short  story  in  America,  to  the  obscuration  of  the  American 
playwright  for  almost  three-quarters  of  a  century,  to  the  rise 
of  the  American  magazine,  and  to  the  struggle  of  the  Amer 
ican  novelist  against  strong  odds  until  1891.  The  present  study 
is  necessarily  but  a  sketch  of  the  beginnings  of  that  influence. 

We  have  seen  in  Chapter  IV  that  an  exchange  with  Ger 
many  was  formed  as  early  as  1793,  but  it  was  largely  barren 
in  its  results.  American  authors  had  little  to  fear  from  direct 

79 


80 

German  competition,  but  they  did  have  much  to  fear  from 
German  literature  in  an  English  dress.  Mr.  Wilkins,  in  his 
admirable  monograph,  German  Literature  in  America  (1762- 
1827),  has  found  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  issues  of  Ger 
man  productions  from  American  presses;  but  a  glance  at  his 
list  shows  that  fully  nine-tenth  are  printed  from  English  trans 
lations.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  few  were  printed 
more  than  once,  and  very  probably  the  editions  were  small. 
There  were  six  editions  of  The  Sorrows  of  Werther,  it  is  true, 
but  compared  with  its  severity  in  Europe  our  attack  of  Werther- 
fever  was  slight  indeed.  Kotzebue,  moreover,  whose  name 
occurs  by  far  the  most  often,  appealed  to  only  a  limited  class 
— the  lovers  of  the  drama — and  possibly  some  of  the  editions 
were  printed  for  stage  use  only.  The  competitive  effect  of 
Spanish  literature  was  almost  non-existent.  That  of  France 
directly  was  very  small,  altho,  especially  at  a  later  period,  it 
became  very  powerful  thru  English  translations ;  for  no  history 
of  the  American  theater  will  be  at  all  complete  without  a 
consideration  of  French  plays  that  gained  a  hearing  in  America 
with  the  English  stage  as  a  popularizing  intermediary.  The 
still  later  popularity  of  the  French  novel  is  of  course  beyond 
the  limits  of  this  discussion.  But  with  English  literature  of 
every  sort  at  hand,  there  was  no  need  of  a  benumbing  trans 
lation  or  of  adaptation  from  that  of  another  race. 

Before  the  appearance  of  Miss  Porter's  Scottish  Chiefs  there 
was,  as  already  noticed,  a  very  considerable  business  of  repro 
ducing  English  classics,  which  reached  this  country  thru  the 
ordinary  course  of  travel  or  importation.  No  one  thought  of 
objecting  to  these  or  attempting  to  exploit  them  any  more  than 
a  modern  publisher  would  attempt  to  exploit  Robinson  Cru 
soe.  The  demand  for  such  books,  while  steady,  was  limited; 
and  when  a  copy  of  a  new  book  was  brought  over  there  were 
not  a  dozen  publishers  ready  to  bid  for  it  and  rush  an  edition 
thru  the  press  in  thirty-six  hours.  But  when,  even  as  early  as 
1811,  a  dealer  at  Pittsburg  can  write  in  the  familiar  phrase, 
"  new  novels  are  all  the  rage  here  now,"  a  new  and  disastrous 
influence  must  be  taken  into  consideration ;  for  it  was  Eng 
lish  novels — those  of  Miss  Edgeworth  and  Miss  Porter — to 


81 

which  he  referred.  Seven  years  later  a  Philadelphia  corre 
spondent  of  Maria  Edgeworth  could  write,  " '  Waverley,' 
'  Guy  Mannering/  etc.,  have  excited  as  much  enthusiasm  in 
America  as  in  Europe.  Boats  are  now  actually  on  the  lookout 
for  '  Rob  Roy/  all  here  are  so  impatient  to  get  the  first  sight 
of  it."1  In  1820  not  a  single  copy  of  Ivanhoe  could  be  pro 
cured  for  Colonel  Campbell2  in  all  Philadelphia;  tho  doubt 
less  the  Colonel  had  only  to  wait  a  few  days  for  another  huge 
edition. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  Mrs.  Radcliffe  and  her  school  were 
very  popular  in  America,  but  the  period  of  Mrs.  Radcliffe's 
activity,  1789-1797,  did  not  coincide  with  that  of  any  Amer 
ican  novelist,  or  at  least  retard  it.  Indeed  the  effect  on  Brown 
and,  later,  on  Neal  was  no  doubt  beneficial  in  a  positive  way, 
in  inspiring  them  to  write;  just  as  Cooper  was  negatively  in 
spired.  When  however  the  last  two  were  involved  in  the 
formidable  competition  of  the  early  twenties  the  effect  was 
anything  but  helpful ;  and  on  men  of  unestablished  reputations 
and  of  lesser  genius  it  must  in  many  cases  have  been  stifling. 
A  glance  at  English  literature  at  about  the  time  when  Neal, 
Cooper,  Miss  Sedgwick,  Simms,  and  others  were  making  their 
first  appearance  before  the  American  public,  and  Irving  had 
begun  to  produce  with  some  regularity,  shows  that  the  field 
was  occupied  by  Miss  Porter,  Miss  Edgeworth,  Miss  Austen, 
and  Scott.  Miss  Porter,  it  might  be  objected,  had  published 
nothing  very  popular  since  The  Scottish  Chiefs  (1810);  but 
the  immense  and  enduring  vogue  of  that  novel  alone  necessi 
tates  that  she  be  taken  into  account,  while  the  number  of  calls 
for  The  Mysteries  of  Udolpho  and  Mrs.  Roche's  Children  of 
the  Abbey,  which  I  should  be  inclined  to  regard  as  the  most 

1  Grace  A.  Oliver,  A  Study  of  Maria  Edgeworth,  Boston,  1882,  p.  315. 

2  This  was  in  all  probability  Colonel  Robert  Campbell   (1775-1831)   who 
was  born  in  Augusta  County,  Virginia,  and  served  under  Christian  against 
the  Cherokees  and  at  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain.     He  was  for  many 
years  colonel  of  a  regiment  and  for  forty  years  magistrate  of  Washington 
County,  Virginia.     His  manuscript  diary  is  interesting  to  the  close  student 
of  the  period,  while  his  account  of  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain  (published 
in  the  Holston  Intelligencer  in  October,  1810)   is  much  quoted  in  Draper's 
King's  Mountain  and  its  Heroes. 

7 


82 

popular  British  novel  in  America  before  Scott,  tho  diminishing 
was  yet  large.  Against  Scott  we  must  match  Cooper,  if  we 
can.  Is  it  possible  to  say  for  a  moment  that  the  other  three 
American  novelists  should,  and  did,  have  the  weight  with  the 
reading  public  that  the  three  English  writers  had? 

In  poetry,  other  than  dramatic,  the  competition  of  the  repub- 
lications  did  not  have  a  very  deterrent  effect.  In  the  first  place 
poetry  was  not  read  so  much  in  America  from  1787  to  1823  as 
literary  historians  are  inclined  to  believe.  The  number  of  old 
copies  of  poetical  works  surviving  from  this  period  seems  to 
have  unduly  impressed  them,  while  the  scarcity  of  novels  has 
too  often  been  accounted  for  upon  the  hypothesis  that  they  had 
little  vogue.  But  when  we  reflect  that  even  now  beautiful  pre 
sentation  copies  of  poems  lie  for  months  on  our  tables  without 
the  symmetry  of  their  outlines  being  marred,  while  the  family 
and  their  friends  have  dog-eared  the  latest  novel  in  two  weeks, 
we  may  be  sure  that  the  novel  of  one  hundred  years  ago  was 
often  worn  out  and  went  to  kindle  the  fire,  while  the  poem  was 
preserved  for  posterity.  November  6,  1818,  Carey  writes  to 
Philip  Freneau  that  the  last  edition  of  his  poems,  which  con 
sisted  of  only  looo  copies,  was  about  exhausted  after  nine 
years.  "  The  demand  here  has  ceased."  Doubtless  other  pub 
lishers  were  writing  similar  letters.  An  example,  taken  at 
random,  of  the  amount  of  poetry  the  people  were  actually  de 
manding  about  1812,  may  be  found  in  an  order  from  Reading, 
Pennsylvania,  October  17,  1812:  Out  of  eighty-one  titles,  four 
belong  to  poetry:  I  Goldsmith's  and  Collins'  Poems  ($0.75); 
i  Marmion  ($1.25);  I  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel  ($1.00)  ;  I 
Lady  of  the  Lake  ($1.00).  The  total  amounts  to  $188.60.  The 
proportion  holds  thru  hundreds  of  bills  of  a  representative 
dealer  whose  business  was  too  general  and  too  extended  merely 
to  reflect  any  one  class  or  any  one  section.  Before  Mrs.  Rad- 
cliffe,  the  proportion  of  poetry  is  a  little  larger.  (  Ossian's  Poems, 
it  might  be  noticed,  have  a  large  run  as  late  as  1800)  ;  in  1823, 
it  is  smaller.  It  is,  however,  to  the  credit  of  America  that  the 
Lyrical  Ballads,  which  at  first  fell  dead  in  England,  were  re- 
published,  in  1802,  in  Philadelphia,  and  became  immediately 
popular.  But  it  would  be  hardly  possible  to  flood  the  market 


83 

with  poetry.    A  Neal3  or  a  Dumas  may  furnish  reading  for  a 

lifetime,  but  even  a  Lope  de  Vega  has  his  limits.4  t 

As  observed  above,  our  earliest  novelist  of  genius  suffered 
little  from  the  competition  of  his  British  contemporaries.  The 
reasons  are  apparent.  The  eighteenth  century  English  classics  \j? 
so  often  republished  lacked  the  popular  appeal  of  newness,  and  Q^J 
while  the  demand  was  steady  it  was  not  monopolistic.  Ameri 
can  publishers  were  in  Brown's  time  not  quite  numerous 
enough  even  fully  to  supply  the  market  without  importing,  so 
that  competition  between  them  was  never  serious.  The  last 
and  most  important  reason  is  to  be  found  in  the  limited  amount 
of  fiction  which  was  then  being  produced  in  England.  Brown's 
productive  period  as  a  novelist,  it  will  be  remembered,  ended  in 
1801.  By  this  date  Mrs.  Radcliffe,  Mrs.  Roche,  and  Monk 
Lewis  were  in  the  field  (Miss  Edgeworth  was  not  popular  till 

3  "  He  boasted  that  within  twelve  years  he  had  written  enough  to  fill  fifty- 
five  duodecimo  volumes."    William  P.  Trent,  A  History  of  American  Litera 
ture,  New  York,  1903,  p.  251. 

4  Not  only  was  Freneau  neglected  at  this  period  but  our  first  authentic 
poet,  Byrant  himself,  was  slow  to  obtain  an  audience.    "  Of  the  1821  edition 
of  his  poems,"  writes  Mr.  Sturges,  "  750  copies  were  printed  and  only  270 
sold;   a  profit  of   $15.00,   minus   eight  cents,    for  five  years'   sale."      (The 
Poetical  Works  of  William  Cullen  Bryant,  New  York,  1908,  p.  xlvi.)     The 
contents  of  this  volume  should  have  indicated  to  every  true  lover  of  poetry 
that   no   mere   rhymster  was   among  them,   for  it   included   among  others, 
"  The  Ages,"  "  To  a  Waterfowl,"  "  The  Yellow  Violet,"  "  Green  River,"  and 
"  Thanatopsis."    It  is  not  until  eleven  years  later  (1832)  that  Bryant  under 
takes  another  volume,  and  practically  all,  if  not  all,  the  poems  included  in 
this  edition  had  been  tested  through  the  medium  of  the  magazines.     It  is 
interesting  to  note  in  connection  with  this  volume  that  it  is  only  through 
the  good  offices  of  Irving  who  "  edits  "  it  that  Bryant  secures  its  publication 
in  London,  and  then  only  by  an  obscure  publisher.     (Ibid.,  pp.  xxiii— xxiv.) 
The  popularity  of  Trumbull's  McFingal  (1776-84)  is  well  established.    This 
may  be  accounted  for,  in  part,  not  by  a  love  of  poetry  per  se,  but  by  its 
peculiarly  opportune  appeal  to  the  revolutionary  spirit  of  the  times.     Were 
more  copies  of  Butler  the  poet  sold  than  of  Butler  the  Cavalier ;  of  Trumbull 
the  poet  than  of  Trumbull  the  revolutionist ;   of  Bryant  the  poet  than  of 
Bryant  the  publicist  ?     Another  fairly  well  read  poet  of  this  period  is  Joel 
Barlow,   whose    Vision   of   Columbus  had   readers   estimated   at   about  five 
thousand,   American,   British,  and  French — surely  no  enormous  popularity. 
The  vogue  of  the  poetic  classics  of  Great  Britain  has  already  been  touched 
upon  at  page  31. 


84 

much  later).  Lewis,  it  seems,  was  not  widely  read.  Mrs.  Rad- 
cliffe  had  achieved  great  popularity  thru  the  Mysteries  of 
Udolpho;  but  while  there  was  some  demand  for  the  Sicilian 
Romance  and  The  Romance  of  the  Forest,  it  was  never  very 
great,  and  the  average  reader  then,  as  now,  was  no  doubt 
inclined  to  regard  her  as  largely  a  writer  of  one  work.  Mrs. 
Roche  was  eminently  so.  In  the  limited  output  of  these  writers 
lay  the  salvation  of  the  American  novelist  of  that  time.  When 
Scott  appeared  one  immensely  popular  novel  followed  another 
in  quick  succession.  The  American  public  after  devouring  the 
latest  looked  eagerly  for  the  next.  Hardly  had  Scott  ceased  to 
produce  when  Dickens,  ably  seconded  by  Marryat,  began  a 
series  equally  popular;  and,  when  Marryat  fell  out,  Benjamin 
Disraeli  was  ready  to  fill  the  gap.  From  Waverley  in  1814,  to 
The  Mystery  of  Edwin  Drood,  1870,  the  year  that  did  not 
produce  at  least  one  highly  popular  British  novel  was  a  barren 
period.  Against  this  continuous  stream  the  American  novelist 
was  compelled  to  wage  a  bitter  struggle. 

It  was  probably  the  popularity  of  Miss  Edgeworth's  novels 
that  first  caused  our  publishers  to  see  the  possibilities  of  the 
exploitation  of  British  authors,  but  not  until  Scott  appeared 
was  it  systematically  done.  The  letter  quoted  at  the  beginning 
of  the  chapter  seems  to  have  been  the  first  step  in  the  move 
ment  ;  but  other  publishers  were  soon  in  the  field,  and  by  about 
1820  the  competition  between  them  was  as  keen  as  anything 
in  modern  business  life,  and  the  happy,  golden  age  described5 
by  Noah  Webster  in  1791  was  over.  Longman  &  Company 
referred  the  letter  to  Mr.  John  Miller  of  Henrietta  Street,  a 
dealer,  and  publisher  in  a  small  way,  who  until  1861,  repre 
sented  Lea  &  Blanchard,  successors,  thru  several  firms,  of 
Mathew  Carey.  A  few  of  the  other  largest  American  firms 
also  secured  agents. 

The  intensity  of  the  competition  and  the  methods  of  meeting 
it  may  be  judged  by  the  following  letter. 

"  MR.  JOHN  MILLER,  June  i7th,  1823. 

"  We  have  rec'd  '  Quentin  Durward  *  most  handsomely  and 

8  See  Appendix  VII.  The  book  in  question  is  Webster's  Grammatical 
Institute,  which  included  his  truly  remarkably  popular  Speller. 


85 

have  the  Game  completely  in  our  own  hands  this  time.  In  28 
hours  after  receiving  it,  we  had  1500  copies  sent  off  or  ready 
to  go,  and  the  whole  Edition  is  now  nearly  distributed.  In  two 
days  we  shall  publish  it  here  and  in  New  York  and  the  Pirates 
may  print  it  as  soon  as  they  please.  The  opposition  Edition 
will  be  out  in  about  48  hours  after  they  have  one  of  our  Copies 
but  we  shall  have  complete  and  entire  possession  of  every 
market  in  the  Country  for  a  short  time.  Independently  of 
profit,  it  is  in  the  highest  degree  gratifying  to  be  able  to  manage 
the  matter  in  our  own  way  without  fear  of  interference.  When 
we  rec'd  the  Vol.  wanting  the  few  last  pages,  we  were  vexed  to 
think  that  a  long  passage  might  keep  us  out  of  them  so  long 
that  we  might  lose  all  the  advantage  already  gained,  but  the 
Mail  of  next  morning  put  us  in  the  best  of  humor  by  bringing 
the  remaining  pages.  Could  not  Messrs.  Constable  &  Co.  fur 
nish  us  a  manuscript  Copy  of  the  last  few  pages,  so  as  not  to 
be  obliged  to  wait  until  the  whole  is  at  press?  It  frequently 
happens  that  we  are  70  or  80  days  without  intelligence  from 
England.  One  day  will  bring  a  vessel  in  60  days,  next  day  in 
50  and  the  following  day  one  in  40  or  35  so  that  our  15  or  20 
days  are  completely  lost  to  us.  We  are  very  desirous  of  taking 
every  precaution  against  losing  the  advantage  for  which  we  pay 
so  heavily,  and  which  is  lost  unless  we  have  a  few  days  start 
as  we  cannot  bring  the  book  into  the  Market  so  soon  as  the 
opposition.  They  publish  as  soon  as  they  can  have  ten  Copies 
from  the  press  while  we  cannot  until  we  have  at  least  2000  or 
2500.  They  print  for  their  own  stores.  We  do  it  for  the 
supply  of  a  whole  country,  and  we  must  send  off  to  our  corres 
pondents  as  soon  as  we  publish  here.  You  will  please  to  take 
all  these  matters  into  consideration  and  make  the  best  arrange 
ments  in  your  power  for  us.  The  transmission  of  the  sheets 
direct  from  Edinburg  to  Liverpool  is  a  great  improvement  as 
it  must  save  much  time.  In  future  request  C.  &.  Co.  to  make 
the  Bundles  as  before  requested.  Part  i.  No  i,  2  and  3  and  so 
on  in  order  to  prevent  a  repetition  of  the  former  unlucky  blun 
der.  We  regret  that  you  must  have  been  put  to  inconvenience 
from  the  delay  of  remittances  but  the  work  came  out  so 
rapidly  that  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  place  funds  there  in 
time.  In  general  at  least  three  or  four  months  elapse  between 
the  receipt  of  the  first  and  last  parts  thus  affording  time  to 
remit  after  leaving  off  the  work.  Could  you  not  arrange  with 
them  to  pay  in  60  days  after  the  work  is  completed?  You 
would  thus  be  certain  of  having  money  in  time.  You  may  rely 
upon  having  the  Amt.  always  in  future  as  soon  as  we  are 
advised  that  we  are  to  have  the  work.  We  hope  soon  to  hear 
from  you  with  the  ist  Vol.  of  the  next  work." 


86 

Signs  of  really  acute  competition  for  the  latest  English  novel 
first  begin  to  appear  in  the  early  part  of  1820.  In  that  year 
Wells  &  Lilly  of  Boston  insert  their  name  as  joint  publishers 
with  Carey  &  Son  of  Ivanhoc,  tho  it  appears  they  did  not  have 
a  single  copy  in  print.  Calls  for  immediate  orders  of  The 
Monastery  appear.  On  October  9,  L.  &  F.  Lockwood  of  New 
York  write: 

*'  We  should  feel  it  a  great  favor  if  you  would  send  us  of  the 
first  going  off  Fifty  copies  at  least  of  the  Abbott.  Would  it 
not  be  well  to  delay  the  publication  for  a  day  or  two  so  that 
they  may  come  together,  as  the  Printers  here  stand  ready  to 
lay  hold  of  the  first  copy  you  send. 

"  Having  been  disappointed  in  the  Monastery  we  beg  you  to 
give  us  a  fair  chance  this  time." 

When  we  reflect  that  all  three  of  these  novels  were  first  pub 
lished  in  1820,  their  vogue  and  the  activity  of  the  publishers 
become  apparent.  On  August  14,  1821,  Wells  &  Lilly  com 
plain  that  Carey  &  Son  are  printing  Lady  Morgan's  Italy  after 
they  had  said  that  they  would  not  do  so.  Van  Winkle  of 
New  York,  they  continue,  is  also  issuing  an  edition.  Miller 
felicitates  himself  in  1822  that  he  has  at  least  three  days  start 
of  the  other  American  agents  in  forwarding  a  copy  of  Horace 
Walpole's  Memoirs  of  the  last  ten  years  of  George  the  Second. 
On  February  5,  1822  Carey  &  Sons  write  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  complaining  that  it  takes  too  long  for  new  books 
to  get  thru  the  Custom  House  at  New  York,  where  they  are 
shipped  because  there  are  more  vessels  entering  at  that  port; 
and  that  they  are  thus  delayed  in  getting  to  press.  It  is,  they 
write,  a  very  serious  matter  to  lose  merely  the  time  necessary 
for  the  printers'  copy  to  come  from  New  York  and  the  finished 
edition  to  be  returned  there,  for  in  that  short  interval  some 
other  vessel  might  bring  a  copy.  Here  we  have  in  a  few  lines 
a  powerful  factor  in  the  rising  supremacy  of  New  York  as  a 
publishing  center,  at  this  time8  the  equal  of  Philadelphia,  soon 
to  outstrip  it.  Ten  days  after  the  last  letter,  Collins  &  Co. 

•It  is  obviously  impossible  to  fix  any  definite  date.  Some  authorities 
place  it  as  early  as  1810.  To  the  enterprise  and  aggressiveness  of  Harper 
&  Brothers,  who  became  prominent  about  1817,  more  than  to  any  other 
firm  is  the  result  due.  The  year  1810  seems  entirely  too  early. 


87 

reply  to  a  protest :  "  We  believe  it  has  been  the  uniform  practice 
both  here  and  in  Boston  to  print  in  each  place  editions  of 
Scott's  novels  as  soon  as  received,  on  the  ground  that  the 
demand  was  so  great  that  it  might  be  done  without  infringing 
the  customary  rights  in  such  cases."  On  July  14,  1822,  Carey 
&  Sons  write  to  Miller,  "  We  have  now  9  printing  offices  em 
ployed  to  get  it  (Fortunes  of  Nigel)  out  by  to-morrow,  Satur 
day,  morning,  and  an  Edit,  is  printing  in  New  York  to  be 
published  on  Monday."  In  1825  Carey  &  Lea  received  ad 
vance  copies  of  the  eleventh,  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cantos  of 
Don  Juan.  It  was  immediately  given  out  to  about  thirty  com 
positors,  and  in  thirty-six  hours  an  American  edition  was  on 
sale.  Indeed  so  intense  became  the  desire  to  be  the  first  to  get 
copies  of  Scott's  novels  for  reprinting  that  it  appears  that  some 
one  (not  necessarily  an  American)  stole  the  "first  copies  of  the 
Waverley  novels  "  from  the  office  of  Constable  and  Company.7 
They  accused  Carey  &  Sons,  but  withdrew  the  charge  in  the 
next  letter. 

Such  details  might  be  accumulated  for  pages.  Nor  need  it 
be  thought  that  American  publishers  alone  were  eager  to  exploit 
the  work  of  others :  the  crime  was  world  wide.  Ebeling,  as 
already  noticed,  had  written  in  1793  that  unauthorized  trans 
lations  would  undersell  American  imports  in  Germany.  John 
Souter,  No.  73,  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  was  agent  for  American 
publications  in  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland;  Miller  was, 
in  addition  to  acting  as  agent  for  Carey,  also  on  the  lookout 
for  American  works  to  republish  himself  or  to  sell  to  others. 
"I  am  reprinting,"  he  writes  on  October  30,  1822,  "the  New 
England  Tale  and  expect  good  sales  for  it;  Murray  reprints 
the  Pioneers."8  The  Pioneers  was  first  published  in  America 
on  February  i,  1823,  so  that  it  seems  to  have  been  first  issued 
in  England.9  Other  works  of  Cooper  appeared  in  England  in 

7  See  Appendix  VIII. 

8  Campbell,  according  to  this  letter  from  Miller,  expressed  to  him  a  desire 
to  have  his  own  biography,  which  was  then  in  preparation,  first  published  in 
America. 

9  The  Pioneers  was  to  have  been  brought  out  as  early  as  the  fall  of  1822, 
but  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  that  summer  paralyzed  the  printing  business 
in  New  York.     Extracts  had  been  previously  published  in  newspapers,  and 


88 

the  same  year  as  in  America,  as  did  also  those  of  Irving;  and 
they  may  have  been  issued  there  first,10  for  so  bad  were  condi 
tions  that  American  authors  were  often  forced  to  adopt  this 
course.11 

The  effect  of  such  competition  upon  publishers  as  well  as 
authors,  both  British  and  American,  was  disastrous,  especially 
so  upon  American  publishers.  The  publication  of  popular 
works  from  across  the  ocean  became  a  gamble  in  which  the 
winnings  went  to  the  largest  and  best  organized  firm — when 
the  wind  and  waves  favored.  The  smaller  firms  suffered 
morally  as  well  as  financially:  morally  in  that  they  so  often 
succumbed  to  the  temptation  to  republish  works  to  which  some 
other  publisher  had  obtained  a  moral,  tho  not  a  legal,  right  by 
a  partially  adequate  payment  to  the  foreign  proprietor;  finan 
cially,  because  if  they  refused  to  offer  the  "best  seller"  many 
of  their  customers  ceased  to  patronize  them.  For  a  firm  at 
Boston,  let  us  say,  to  order  from  Philadelphia  would  not 
answer,  for  twelve  days  were  thus  lost.  Publishers,  even  the 
largest,  must  quite  frequently  have  found  that  an  edition  of 
some  work  only  fairly  popular,  issued  a  little  too  late,  must  be 
put  upon  an  already  glutted  market.  Works  of  special  nature 
were  therefore  seldom  reprinted,  for  the  financial  loss  in  case 
of  a  rival  edition  was  very  serious.  Distrust  and  jealousy 
sprang  up  on  every  side.  Such  conditions  prevalent  in  America 
must  have  been  in  a  lesser  measure  reflected  in  England. 

The  effect  upon  American  authors  was  unfortunate  in  the 
extreme.  None  of  them,  not  even  Irving  and  Cooper,  was 
ever  so  popular  for  a  continuous  period  as  Scott,  Byron  and 
Dickens ;  so  that  had  it  been  possible  to  sell  their  books  at  the 
same  price  the  sales  would  have  been  smaller.  But  the  neces- 

the  book  was  awaited  with  great  impatience.  By  noon  on  Februrary  i, 
3500  copies  had  been  sold.  (Thomas  R.  Lounsbury,  James  Fenimore 
Cooper,  Boston,  1883,  PP-  40-41.)  Compare  also  Bryant  page  83,  note. 

'• "  Authors  of  established  reputation  "  writes  Mr.  Henry  C.  Lea,  "  who 
could  arrange  in  advance  with  English  publishers  would  do  it  so  as  to 
obtain  copyright  by  first  publication  there." 

u  "  Address  of  certain  authors  of  Great  Britain  to  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  of  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled."  Reprinted  in  Tht 
Congressional  Record,  Washington  1888,  Vol.  XIX,  p.  3241. 


89 

sity  of  paying  the  author  a  fair  royalty  or  of  buying  his  copy 
right  made  the  price  of  his  works  considerably  higher  than 
those  of  the  British  writer  to  whom  no  adequate  returns  could 
be  made  by  the  most  conscientious  publisher,  because  any 
amount  advanced  secured  merely  a  few  hours'  start  of  the 
pirates  and  the  goodwill  of  a  limited  number  of  the  public. 
The  latter  often  refused  to  pay  a  high  price  for  even  the 
American  book  that  they  knew  to  be  good,  when  they  could 
secure  cheaper  a  popular  English  book.  As  a  result,  the  sales 
of  American  works  and  the  profits  of  the  writer  were  appre 
ciably  decreased.  Irving  still  further  embarrassed  his  publish 
ers  by  continually  demanding  fine  editions.  In  the  case  of  an 
author  who,  like  Cooper,  made  many  failures,  the  public  often 
hesitated  to  buy  and  the  publishers  to  publish.  The  $2,600 
which  the  firm  inform  Cooper,  November  12,  1836,  they  have 
lost  on  The  Manikins  was,  however,  no  doubt  repaid  several 
times  over  by  Pickwick  Papers  and  Sketches  by  Boz,  which 
had  also  first  appeared  in  i836.12  Of  Mercedes  of  Castile 
(1840)  only  1700  copies  out  of  4000  had  sold  by  February  10, 
1841.  The  publishers  suggest  that  the  author  should  remit  a 
portion  of  the  copy  money,  "  owing  to  the  fact  that  we  stated 
to  you  our  disappointment  in  the  character  of  the  work  before 
publication,  it  being  different  to  what  you  stated  previously  to 
finishing  it."  The  reply  seems  to  have  been  cutting.  Few  but 
the  largest  firms  could  allow  personal  friendship  or  patriotism 
to  influence  them  in  the  slightest  degree. 

The  immediate  price  of  American  books  was  decreased,  but 
without  proportionately  increasing  the  sales. 

"J.  FENIMORE  COOPER,  Esq.     Nov.  13,  1834. 

"...  We  wish  you  to  remark  that  we  have  been  compelled 
to  sell  Books  cheaper  than  we  did  formerly.  When  your  early 
works  were  published,  English  novels  retailed  for  $1.50  and 
American  could  be  sold  at  $2.  Now  the  other  retails  at  $i. 
and  the  other  at  about  $1.50  or  less.  It  is  true  that  the  nominal 
wholesale  price  is  still  $1.50,  but  it  is  necessary  to  make  dis 
counts  from  that  price  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  purchased. 
We  cannot  estimate  the  product  at  more  than  $1.30  per  copy." 

"The  rival  firm  of  Carey  and  Hart  published  Bulwer's  Riensi  and  Mar- 
ryat's  Mr.  Midshipman  Easy  in  the  same  year. 


90 

Meanwhile  other  prominent  Americans  were  having  their 
troubles  also.  In  1836  Irving  was  offered  $4000  for  the  right 
of  printing  5000  copies  of  Astoria,  but  he  was  refused  the  fine 
edition  upon  which  his  heart  was  set.18 

In  1841  and  1842  a  severe  business  depression  marked  by  the 
failure  of  the  United  States  Bank,  by  the  refusal  of  Pennsyl 
vania  and  Maryland  to  pay  interest  due  on  their  state  debts, 
and  by  Dorr's  Rebellion,  swept  over  the  country.  Typical  of 
this  period  are  the  following  letters: 

"WASHINGTON  IRVING  Esq     March  2  1841. 

"We  have  yours  of  the  25th  ulto.  in  relation  to  the  volume 
you  are  preparing.14  The  times  are  most  sadly  against  the 
publication  of  any  work  requiring  even  a  fair  ed. 

"  We  are  issuing  chiefly  to  keep  ourselves  before  the  world  & 
few  books  we  now  print  exceed  500  copies  for  an  edition. 

We  shd  be  pleased  to  give  the  volume  to  the  public.  The 
great  quantities  however  that  formerly  sold  when  the  South  & 
S.  West  were  opened,  cannot  now  be  managed.  Never  the  less 
we  think  we  can  sell  as  many  as  any  other  house  &  the 
best  shall  be  done.  There  must  be  something  very  attractive 
in  the  life  of  a  girl  of  sixteen  that  could  move  you,  &  we  shd 
rely  more  on  your  own  opinion  of  the  work  than  what  we  can 
now  suppose  would  be  attractive  to  the  many,  in  one  who  died 

u  Irving  seems  to  have  been  rather  indolent  as  well  as  a  lover  of  fine 
things  ;  for  Mahomet,  which  he  had  promised  for  1839,  was  not  published 
until  1850  ;  tho  his  publishers  repeatedly  urge  him  to  get  it  ready  as  soon 
as  possible.  Tales,  promised  in  1842,  is  probably  Wolfert's  Roost,  1855. 

"The  volume  in  question  is  the  Poetic  Remains  of  Margaret  Miller 
Davidson  (Mar.  26,  i823-Nov.  25,  1838)  which  the  firm  (Lea  &  Blanchard) 
published  in  1841.  Miss  Davidson  passed  an  early  childhood  of  remarkable 
promise.  When  hardly  more  than  six  years  of  age  she  wrote  in  two  days, 
The  Tragedy  of  Alethia.  Lenore,  the  longest  of  her  poems,  contains  pas 
sages  of  considerable  beauty.  Her  numerous  shorter  poems  are  instinct 
with  a  devotional  ardour  of  rare  quality.  The  poems  of  her  scarcely  less 
gifted  sister  (Lucretia  Maria  Davidson  1808-1825)  seem  to  have  been  in 
cluded  in  this  volume,  which  had  a  biography  of  the  younger  sister  by 
Irving.  Miss  Sedgwick  wrote  a  memoir  of  the  elder  sister  which  appeared 
in  Sparks'  American  Biography.  The  poems  of  both  sisters  were  published 
in  one  volume  (Poetical  Remains)  at  Boston  in  1859.  Amir  Khan  and  other 
Poems  by  Lucretia  Maria  Davidson,  published,  with  a  sketch  of  her  life  by 
S.  F.  B.  Morse,  in  1829,  is  the  "volume  of  poems"  alluded  to  just  below. 
Both  sisters  were  indeed  in  their  rare  promise  "  of  those  that  died  before 
the  dawn." 


91 

so  young.  A  volume  of  Poems  by  her  sister  was  published 
some  time  since  but  its  sale  was  not  we  believe  very  extensive. 
All  this  however,  is  not  to  the  point. 

"We  think  it  would  be  better  to  print  an  edition  of  2500 
copies  for  a  first  ed  for  which  we  could  allow  twenty  two  cents 
per  copy  payable  at  9  mos  from  publication  &  if  it  was  suffi 
ciently  attractive  could  be  stereotyped  or  set  up  again  for 
2000  copies  at  same  price  per  copy.  Would  this  not  be  your 
best  course?  It  may  be  that  the  work  may  prove  more  at 
tractive  than  we  suppose  &  many  thousands  may  be  wanted. 
We  would  of  course  push  it  with  our  best  efforts. 

"You  may  remember  that  you  had  30  cts  for  the  Crayon 
Miscellany,  but  you  stereotyped  that.  In  the  present  case  you 
require  the  composition  to  be  paged  by  us,  on  the  2500  which 
would  be  about  the  difference.  There  is  another  consideration 
— we  now  give  larger  discounts  to  the  trade  than  we  did  then. 

"You  will  we  think  agree  with  us  about  the  number  of 
copies  proposed  to  be  first  printed  when  we  inform  you  that 
the  first  sale  of  vol  3  Crayon  Miscellany  did  not  exceed  2500 
copies. 

"  Pray  give  our  views  of  the  matter  your  consideration  & 
let  us  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  soon  from  you." 

"  WASHINGTON  IRVING  Esq     Mar  3  1842 

"  Yours  of  the  26th  inst.  did  not  reach  us  until  the  evening 
of  the  ist  inst.  We  have  given  much  consideration  to  the 
matter  and  have  to  say  that  It  would  give  us  great  pleasure  to 
be  able  to  meet  your  wishes  at  once,  but  the  country  is  in  such 
a  condition,  that  we  wld  not  be  justified  now  in  making  such  an 
operation  as  you  propose.  In  the  present  and  paralyzed  state 
of  the  currency,  we  do  not  believe  that  a  new  &  necessarily 
expensive  edition  would  be  successful.  It  would  require  a  very 
large  expenditure  &  consequently  large  receipts — the  latter 
could  scarcely  be  hoped  for  in  the  present  distressed  state  of 
almost  every  portion  of  the  country.  Hereafter  it  may  answer. 

"  For  the  present  we  should  prefer  to  continue  our  arrange 
ment  for  two  years  at  one  thousand  dollars  per  annum  &  in 
clude  the  right  to  publish  Astoria,  Miscellany,  etc  in  it,  Or  if 
you  wish  to  publish  '  Mahomet '  this  spring  &  the  two  volumes 
of  Tales,  mentioned  in  your  letter,  to  follow  by  June  or  July — 
these  might  be  included  in  the  two  years  right  with  the  others, 
say  the  whole  for  five  thousand  dollars  for  the  two  years  com 
mencing  at  the  time  of  publication  of  the  last — we  to  reserve 
the  right  at  the  end  of  that  period  to  publish  a  new  edition  of 
your  works  as  you  propose  with  the  other  vols  selected,  say 
for  five  or  more  years  at  the  price  of  $2500  per  annum.  .  .  ." 


92 

Far  more  serious  was  the  lot  of  Poe  during  this  period  of 
intense  business  depression. 

"  EDGAR  A.  POE,  Aug.  16,  1841. 

"  We  have  yrs  of  the  I3th  inst.  in  which  you  are  kind  enough 
to  offer  us  a  '  new  collection  of  prose  Tales.' 

"  In  answer  we  very  much  regret  to  say  that  the  state  of 
affairs  is  such  as  to  give  very  little  encouragement  to  new  un 
dertakings.  As  yet  we  have  not  got  through  the  edition  of  the 
other  work  and  up  to  this  time  it  has  not  returned  to  us  the 
expense  of  its  publication.  We  assure  you  that  we  regret  this 
on  your  account  as  well  as  our  own — as  it  would  give  us  great 
pleasure  to  promote  your  views  in  relation  to  publication."15 

Tales  of  the  Grotesque  and  Arabesque  ( 1839) 18  is  the  "  other 
work."  The  Prose  Romances  of  Edgar  A.  Poe  ("The  Mur 
ders  in  the  Rue  Morgue,"  and  "  The  Man  that  was  Used  up  ") 
was  published  at  Philadelphia  in  1843.  ^n  ^4S  Wiley  and 
Putnam  of  New  York  issued  Tales  by  Edgar  A.  Poe.  It  seems 
impossible  to  determine  which  one  of  these,  if  either,  is  the 
"new  collection."  In  any  case,  owing  to  the  English  reprint, 
Poe  was  not  receiving  any  adequate  returns  for  his  work ;  and 
it  may  be  that  such  a  refusal  to  publish  his  tales  had  a  worse 
effect  upon  his  sensitive  nature  than  the  loss  of  the  money  they 
might  have  brought. 

Four  months  later  another  genius  receives  bad  news : 

"This  letter  has  been  published  by  George  E.  Woodberry  in  his  Edgar 
Allen  Poe,  Boston,  1885,  p.  165.  A  previous  letter  to  Poe  (not  found,  see 
Woodberry,  p.  164)  had  given  the  title  as  follows  "some  such  title  as  this: 
— The  Prose  Tales  of  Edgar  A.  Poe,  including  '  The  Murders  in  the  Rue 
Morgue,'  the  'Descent  into  the  Maelstrom,'  and  all  his  later  pieces,  with  a 
second  edition  of  the  Tales  of  the  Grotesque  and  the  Arabesque. 

"  The  later  pieces  will  be  eight  in  number,  making  the  entire  collection 
thirty-three  which  would  occupy  two  thick  volumes."  All  profits  were  to 
go  to  the  firm  (as  allowed  before  1839  on  Tales)  and  twenty  copies  only 
were  to  be  given  to  Poe.  When  the  work  was  nearly  ready,  he  tried  to  get 
better  terms,  but  the  firm  (Lea  and  Blanchard)  refused  and  asked  him  to 
secure  another  publisher.  (Ibid.,  pp.  116-17.)  The  work  was  published  in 
two  volumes  in  1839  or  1840. 

*  Harrison  (The  Complete  Works  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  New  York,  1902, 
Vol.  xvi,  p.  364)  says  1840.  The  edition  printed  of  the  Tales  of  the  Gro 
tesque  and  Arabesque  consisted  of  750  copies  only,  says  Mr.  Henry  C.  Lea. 


93 


"  ' 


"MR.  W.  GILMORE  SIMMS,  Dec.  16,  1841. 

'$ 

writer  in  light  literature — as  a  matter  of  profit  it  might  be 


\ 


Confession  '  is  a  total  failure,  the  '  Kinsman  '  will  do  bet-        r\^  f 
o  not  see  much  hope  in  the  future  for  the  American 
ight  literature  —  as  a  matter  of  profit  it  might  be 
abandoned. 

"  The  channel  seems  to  be  glutted  with  periodical  literature 
particularly  the  mammoth  Weeklies  —  besides  which  we  go  into 
market  for  $1.50  a  copy  agt  English  reprints  at  900."  .  .  . 

Simms  seems  not  to  have  followed  the  advice,  tho  possibly 
it  had  something  to  do  with  the  researches  in  biography  that 
punctuate  the  long  series  of  novels  that  follow.  Irving,  Cooper, 
Poe,  Simms,  —  if  these  four  men  were  so  harassed  and,  in  one 
case  at  least,  forced  from  the  market,  what  must  have  hap 
pened  to  the  writer  of  ordinary  talents? 

If  the  effect  of  competition  on  American  authors  was  so 
dire  it  was  also  not  inconsiderable  on  those  of  Great  Britain  — 
not  so  much  by  direct  competition,  for  Irving  and  Cooper  were 
the  only  Americans  continuously  read  at  this  period,  but  by 
the  indirect  loss  of  profit  and  by  the  annoyance  caused  by 
garbled  versions.  Mrs.  Radcliffe  probably  received  nothing 
for  her  works.  It  has  been  conjectured  that  Scott's  life  would 
have  been  prolonged  had  an  international  copyright  prevailed, 
so  that  full  returns  could  have  been  made  for  works  published 
in  America.17  The  conscientious  American  publisher  soon  be 
came  accustomed  to  gauging  values.  Miller  is  instructed,  in 
1836,  that  except  James,  DTsraeli,  Miss  Edgeworth,  and  Mar- 
ryat,  with  whom  special  terms  must  be  made,  no  one  will  bear 
over  five  pounds.  Lady  Morgan,  Hook,  Mrs.  Hall,  Chamier, 
Horace  Smith,  Hood,  the  Author  of  Godolphin,  Trevelyan, 
Grattan  and  the  Countess  of  Blessington  would  bear  that  sum 
but  not  over  it.  In  1834  Miller  is  to  offer  Miss  Edgeworth 
£25  to  £40  for  Taking  -for  Granted  (evidently  Helen)  ;  in  1836, 
Bulwer  £125  (but  there  was  trouble  brewing  between  Bulwer 

17  See  "  Address  of  certain  authors  of  Great  Britain  to  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States,  in  Congress  Assembled."  Reprinted 
in  Congressional  Record,  Washington,  1888,  Vol.  XIX,  p.  3241.  One  likes 
to  think  in  this  connection  of  the  struggling  and  yet  unrecognized  Carlyle 
as  aided  by  Emerson,  who  undertook  the  publication,  at  his  own  risk,  of 
Sartor  Resartus  and  sent  the  proceeds  to  the  author. 


94 

and  Harpers),  and  James  £50  to  £60  for  their  next  work.  Four 
years  later  Dickens  commands  £150  to  £225.  Irving,  we  have 
noticed,  is  offered  in  1842  $2500  per  annum  for  the  right  of 
publishing  his  collected  works  for  the  next  five  years.  By  that 
year  he  has  written  twelve  of  his  seventeen  works. 

In  1837  Carey  &  Co.  had  explained  to  Dickens  why  they 
could  not  afford  to  give  more  for  his  works,  which  naturally 
were  not  then  worth  so  much  as  later. 

"  MR.  SAML.  DICKENS,  June  14,  1837. 

"  On  the  first  appearance  of  the  Pick  Wick  Papers  we  under 
took  their  publication  in  this  country  and  have  to  this  time 
pubd.  12  parts. 

"  Ere  this  you  would  have  heard  from  us  but  this  work  with 
others  had  to  succumb  with  the  times18  and  it  was  doubtful  if 
we  would  have  been  paid  for  more  had  we  published  them. 
But  we  conclude  to  venture  to  press  with  a  volume  or  so  and 
shall  continue  the  papers. 

"  Under  the  hope  that  business  will  improve  and  the  sales  of 
the  work  extend,  we  have  thought  of  the  author  and  have  re 
quested  our  agent,  Mr.  John  Miller,  to  furnish  you  with  a 
draft  on  W.  &  I.  Brown  &  Co.,  Liverpool,  for  £25  at  4  mos. 
which  we  beg  you  will  accept  not  as  a  compensation,  but  as  a 
memento  of  the  fact  that  unsolicited  a  bookseller  has  sent  an 
author,  if  not  money,  at  least  a  fair  representative  of  it.  The 
amt.  is  small,  and  you  can  well  understand  why  it  is  not  more 
when  we  state  that  we  shall  sell  the  whole  12  pts.,  done  up  in 
3  vols.,  to  the  trade  for  about  five  shillings  net :  After  paying 
the  cost  of  making  this  does  not  leave  much  for  the  Bookseller 
or  Author.  The  novels  that  are  published  in  England  in  3 
vols.  are  here  printed  in  two  and  sold  to  the  Trade  for  Three 
shillings  per  copv  and  the  edition  of  1000  copies,  say  such  as 
Jack  Brag,  Rory  O'More19  etc.  at  such  prices  but  little  is  made 
of  them  and  it  is  but  seldom  that  they  will  admit  of  any  pay 
ment  to  authors,  occasionally  when  a  first  edition  will  admit 
of  a  large  impression  this  can  be  done  but  exceptions  to  that 
quantity  are  few. 

M  It  may  not  be  amiss  to  refer  to  the  panic  of  this  year,  the  Panic  of 
1837,  which  was  caused  by  over  speculation  in  land  and  by  the  wild  cat 
banks,  banks  organized  in  the  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  especially 
in  the  Western  States,  before  the  enactment  of  a  national  banking  law. 

"  Jack  Brag  by  Theodore  Hook  appeared  in  England  in  1837,  and  Rory 
O'More  (the  novel,  not  the  ballad,  which  was  published  in  1826)  by  Samuel 
Lover  in  the  same  year. 


95 

"While  on  the  subject  of  Novels  we  will  advert  to  one  an 
nounced  by  you,  '  Barnaby  Rudge/  Our  agent  may  have  made 
some  arrangement  for  this  work  with  you  or  your  publisher, 
should  he  not,  he  will  be  pleased  to  communicate  with  you  on 
the  subject  for  early  sheets  and  we  trust  that  he  may  make 
some  arrangement  that  will  be  to  your  advantage  and  that  will 
open  a  door  for  further  communications." 

To  this  Dickens  replied: 

"48  Doughty  Street  Mecklenburgh  Square,  London. 

"  October  26,  1837 
"  Gentlemen: — 

"  I  owe  you  an  apology  for  not  having  returned  an  earlier 
reply  to  your  obliging  letter.  I  was  not  in  London  when  it 
arrived,  and  have  been  so  much  engaged  since  my  return  that 
for  a  short  time  it  escaped  my  recollection. 

"  I  need  scarcely  say  that  it  affords  me  great  pleasure  to 
hear  of  the  popularity  of  the  Pickwick  Papers  in  America — a 
country  in  which  in  common  with  most  Englishmen,  I  take  a 
high  interest,  and  with  which  I  hope  one  day  to  become  better 
acquainted. 

"  I  should  not  feel  under  the  circumstances,  quite  at  ease  in 
drawing  upon  you  for  the  amount  you  so  liberally  request  me 
to  consider  you  my  debtors  in,  but  I  shall  have  very  great 
pleasure  in  receiving  from  you  an  American  copy  of  the  Work, 
which  coupled  with  your  very  handsome  letter,  I  shall  consider 
a  sufficient  acknowledgment  of  the  American  sale. 

".The  novel  Barnaby  Rudge  of  which  you  speak  will  not  be 
published  until  late  in  the  Autumn  of  next  year.20  Oliver 
Twist  will  appear  in  June  next.  I  shall  be  very  happy  to  enter 
into  any  arrangements  with  you  for  the  transmission  of  early 
proofs  of  the  latter  book  if  I  should  hear  from  you  that  you 
consider  it  desirable. 

I  am,  Gentlemen, 

Very  faithfully  yours, 
Mess.  Carey  &  Co.  CHARLES  DICKENS." 

From  this  attitude  of  good  will  towards  American  publishers, 
Dickens  was  to  depart  widely  in  the  next  five  years;21  for  all 
authors,  American  and  British,  soon  saw  that  such  conditions 
could  not  endure,  and,  aided  by  many  of  the  publishers,  they 
began  the  long  and  bitter  fight  for  an  international  copyright 

20  It   was   not   published   until    1841. 

21  See  Appendix  IX. 


96 

law  which  was  not  to  meet  with  the  slightest  success  until  1891. 

That  these  two  great  nations,  Great  Britain  and  America,  had 
so  long  failed  to  act  to  their  own  advantage  in  protecting  such 
an  important  class  as  the  producers  of  literature,  authors  and 
publishers,  was  not  due  to  any  unusual  stupidity  nor  to  any 
exceptional  meanness  on  the  side  of  interested  parties.  The 
evolution  of  the  international  copyright,  with  all  of  its  errors, 
inexcusable  to  us  of  the  twentieth  century,  wise  in  our  freedom 
from  the  pitfalls  of  the  pathfinder,  can  be  paralleled  in  the 
growth  of  many  of  the  legal  and  social  codes  that  hold  together, 
more  or  less  inadequately,  the  jarring  interests  of  discordant 
nations. 

To  the  bard  who  sang  of  the  deeds  of  Beowulf,22  to  the  monk 
as  he  bent  over  his  desk  in  the  Monastery  of  San  Marco  and 
copied  the  vision  of  his  great  fellow  townsman,  or,  what  is 
more  probable,  illuminated  with  loving  care  the  acts  of  the 
church  fathers,  a  copyright  was  a  thing  unknown  and  unde- 
sired.  The  one  cared  little  who  learned  his  song;  the  other 
was  only  anxious  that  the  miracles  of  his  order  should  be 
received  by  men  as  widely  as  possible. 

But  when  Gutenberg  invented  printing  in  1451,  if  a  mooted 
point  may  be  waived,  a  new  influence  had  come  into  literature ; 
and  with  the  greatly  increased  number  of  copies  of  a  literary 
work  thereby  made  possible,  a  new  commercial  value  for  author 
and  for  publisher,  was  set  for  literary  wares,  and  a  long  struggle 
began  for  legal  protection  for  an  output  of  human  energy 
which  had  scarcely,  if  at  all,  been  recognized  as  property  before. 

The  first  evidence  of  a  copyright  comes  to  us  in  the  Renais 
sance  in  connection  with  the  spread  of  the  classics.  Probably 
the  first  compiled  and  carefully  edited  text  to  be  printed  was 
an  edition  of  Cicero's  Offices,  issued  by  Fust  and  Schoffer  in 
I465.23  A  rival  press  issued  an  edition  at  a  much  lower  price, 
because  upon  them  had  not  fallen  the  expense  of  preparing  a 

M  Mr.  Ker  seems  to  think  that  no  bard  ever  did  sing  of  the  deeds  of 
Beowulf.  (See  his  The  Dark  Ages,  New  York,  1904,  pp.  250-1.) 

21  Brander  Matthews,  "  The  Evolution  of  the  Copyright,"  in  The  Ques 
tion  of  Copyright,  compiled  by  George  Haven  Putnam,  New  York,  1891, 
p.  14.  The  article  is  reprinted  from  the  Political  Science  Quarterly  of 
November,  1890. 


97 

text.  Already  there  were  pirates  in  the  publishing  world. 
John  of  Spira  was  wiser  four  years  later,  in  1469,  for  he 
secured  from  the  Venetian  Republic  the  exclusive  right  for  five 
years  to  print  the  epistles  of  Cicero  and  of  Pliny.2*  The  first 
recorded  case  of  a  copyright  given  directly  to  an  author  is  that 
of  Peter  of  Ravenna,  who  in  1491  secured  the  exclusive  right 
to  put  his  Phoenix  upon  the  market  from  Venice.25  Other 
Italian  states  followed  the  leadership  of  Venice  in  this  matter. 
The  earliest  protection  granted  in  Germany  to  a  literary  work 
was  to  Conrad  Celtes  for  the  work  of  a  nun  of  the  Benedictine 
cloister  of  Gardersheim,  in  I5OI.26  Luther's  translation  of  the 
Bible  was  issued  at  Wittenberg  in  1534  under  the  protection  of 
the  Elector  of  Saxony.  By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen 
tury,  there  were  decrees  in  many  of  the  German  states  by  which 
protection  could  be  secured.  By  an  enactment  at  Berlin  in 
1794  protection  was  granted  by  all  German  states,  except 
Wurtemburg  and  Mecklenburg,  to  both  German  and  foreign 
authors  whose  works  were  represented  at  the  book  fairs  of 
Leipzig  and  Frankfort.27  True  it  was  not  very  effective,  as 
Schiller  and  Goethe  might  well  testify,  but  it  established  a 
precedent,  and  seems  to  be  the  first  real  step  towards  inter 
national  copyright.  In  France  but  one  edition  was  at  first 
protected  by  each  copyright. 

But  the  country  in  which  we  are  most  interested  for  the 
moment  is  Great  Britain.  The  privilege  of  exclusive  produc 
tion  was  first  extended  in  England  to  Richard  Pynson,  in  1518. 
The  title  page  of  Pynson's  book  says  that  no  one  else  could 
print  or  import  it  for  two  years.28  But  Pynson  was  the  king's 
printer,  and  similar  rights  were  not  extended  to  an  author  until 
twelve  years  later,  when  they  were  granted  to  John  Palsgrave, 
on  his  French  grammar,  for  seven  years.  In  1553  Wynkyn 

24  Ibid.,  p.  15. 

25  R.  R.  Bowker,  Copyright,  Its  Law  and  Its  Literature,  New  York,  1886, 

P-  4- 

26  Geo.    Haven   Putnam,   "  Literary   Property,   An   Historical   Sketch,"   in 
The  Question  of  Copyright,  p.  47.     Cf.  also  Bowker,  p.  4. 

27  Putnam,  p.  48. 

38  Matthews,  p.  16. 

8 


98 

de  Worde  obtained  protection  for  his  Witinton's  Grammar, 
which  had  been  pirated. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  dates  given  above  fall  within  the 
days  of  the  Renaissance  and  of  the  Reformation,  a  period  of 
great  political  and  religious  ferment.  Governments,  therefore, 
began  to  exercise  restrictive  powers  over  printing,  and  copy 
right  and  censorship  became  confused.  The  Stationers'  Com 
pany,  chartered  in  1556  by  Philip  and  Mary,  had  for  its  object 
the  prevention  of  the  spread  of  the  Protestant  Reformation.29 
It  is  not  necessary  here  to  enter  into  the  complicated  relations 
between  governmental  censorship  and  copyright  in  Great  Britain 
from  this  year  until  the  period,  comparatively  recent,  when 
copyright  ceased  to  be  a  matter  of  politics.  In  spite  of  the 
exercise  of  arbitrary  power,  the  struggle  was  won,  or  almost 
so,  by  the  time  that  the  American  colonies  threw  off  the  yoke 
of  the  mother  country. 

The  time,  then,  and  the  democratic  attitude  of  the  people, 
together  with  a  thirst  for  knowledge  and  a  desire  for  its  encour 
agement,  rendered  easy  an  acknowledgment  of  literary  prop 
erty  within  the  nation.  The  first  act  in  the  United  States  was 
passed  by  Connecticut  in  January,  1783.  Massachusetts  fol 
lowed  in  March  of  the  same  year,  Virginia  in  1785,  and  New 
York  and  New  Jersey  in  I786.30  These  acts  were  primarily 
due  to  the  persistency  of  one  man,  Noah  Webster,  and  his 
Speller  was  the  first  book  protected.  Webster  became  a 
familiar  figure  at  state  capitols  as  he  passed  from  state  to  state 
electioneering  for  his  favorite  measure.  His  work  caused  sim 
ilar  action  to  be  contemplated  by  Rhode  Island,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  Maryland,  and  South  Carolina  until  the  necessity  of 
state  laws  was  done  away  with  by  the  national  law  of  May 
31,  1790.  But  the  sentiment  which  crystallized  in  this  law  was 
evoked  largely  by  Webster's  personal  influence  and  writings. 

The  state  legislation  enacted  before  May,  1783,  had  granted 
a  period  of  twenty-one  years,  but  in  May,  in  response  to  a 

"Eaton  S.  Drone,  A  Treatise  on  the  Law  of  Property  in  Intellectual 
Productions  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  Boston,  1879,  p.  56. 
But  compare  page  21,  note. 

"  Ibid.,  p.  89. 


99 

resolution  by  Madison,  Congress  in  urging  copyright  upon  the 
states  named  fourteen  years  as  the  limit.  When  the  general 
government  legislated  upon  the  matter  it  unfortunately  chose 
the  shorter  term  proposed  by  Madison,  but  if  the  author  were 
living  when  the  copyright  expired  it  could  be  renewed  for 
fourteen  additional  years.  This  was  the  law  until  1831,  when 
twenty-eight  years  were  granted  with  the  privilege  of  renewal 
for  fourteen  years,  if  the  author,  his  widow,  or  his  children 
were  still  living  at  the  expiration  of  the  first  term. 

There  was  at  first  an  attempt  to  secure  a  perpetual  copy 
right.  It  was  contended  that  the  man's  literary  property  was 
as  entirely  his  own  as  the  faculties  of  his  mind,  and  that  the 
labor  employed  in  its  production  was  his  exclusively.  Noah 
Webster,  in  a  letter  to  Daniel  Webster,  dated  September  30, 
1826,  in  arguing  for  perpetual,  or  at  least  a  greatly  extended 
copyright  law,  says :  "  If  anything  can  justly  give  a  man  an 
exclusive  right  to  the  occupancy  and  enjoyment  of  a  thing  it 
must  be  the  fact  that  he  made  it.  The  right  of  a  farmer  or 
mechanic  to  the  exclusive  enjoyment  and  right  of  disposal  of 
what  he  makes  or  produces  is  never  questioned.  What,  then, 
can  make  a  difference  between  the  produce  of  muscular  strength 
and  the  produce  of  the  intellect?"31  Tho  Webster's  position 
seems  logical,  the  fact  remains  that  most  of  those  countries 
which  have  experimented  with  a  perpetual  copyright — Holland, 
Belgium,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Mexico,  and  some  of  the  South 
American  countries,  have  most  usually  speedily  returned  to 
protection  for  a  term  of  years.  There  seems  to  have  been  an 
underlying  feeling  that  a  perpetual  copyright  would  tend  to 
build  up  a  literary  monopoly  in  the  hands  of  publishers  which, 
because  of  extortionate  prices,  would  be  detrimental  to  the 
spread  of  enlightenment  in  succeeding  generations.  What  the 
real  effect  would  be,  whether  the  law  of  supply  and  demand 
would  exercise  a  controlling  and  leveling  power  over  it,  is  a 
question  that  cannot  be  answered,  because  there  has  never  been 
any  adequate  test.  Legislation  has  been  influenced,  also,  by 

81  Horace  E.  Scudder,  Noah  Webster,  Boston,  1882,  p.  58.  A  summary 
of  Webster's  entire  activity  in  the  matter  of  copyright  is  given  in  pages 
52  to  67. 


100 

the  possibility  that  the  heirs  might  possess  themselves  of  a 
copyright  in  order  to  suppress  a  work.  The  fortunes  of 
Calvin's  Institutes  in  the  hands  of  intolerant  Catholic  heirs 
might  be  an  example. 

It  has  just  been  noticed  that  the  first  steps  toward  interna 
tional  copyright  were  taken  by  the  German  states  in  1794. 
There  are  several  reasons  why  such  should  have  been  the  case, 
but  those  which  most  nearly  concern  the  present  discussion  are 
the  facts  of  a  practically  similar  language  and  a  similar  attitude 
towards  life  among  them  and  a  lack  of  international  hostility, 
such  as  has  until  recently  characterized  the  attitude  of  France 
and  Great  Britain.  The  first  condition  makes  piracy  easy  of 
perpetration ;  it  is  not  necessary  to  translate  or  to  adapt  to  the 
spirit  of  an  alien  race.  The  brotherhood  of  man  has  assumed 
a  deeper  and  a  fuller  meaning  since  1794,  but  even  now  how 
often  does  the  foreigner  receive  the  full  consideration  of  a 
native? 

When,  in  1837,  the  first  recorded  step  towards  international 
copyright  was  taken  in  the  United  States,  both  these  influ 
ences  were  powerfully  at  work.  British  literature  offered  a 
tempting  field  for  exploitation,  and  our  countrymen  were,  in 
far  too  many  cases,  not  in  any  mood  to  apply  the  golden  rule 
to  the  country  they  had  twice  fought  on  land  and  sea.  But  in 
this  year  those  conditions  which  have  already  been  described 
forced  affairs  to  a  climax.  On  February  13,  1837,  between 
fifty  and  sixty  of  the  most  prominent  British  authors  presented 
a  petition  to  Congress  asking  for  protection.32  The  petition 
was  presented  to  the  Senate  by  Henry  Clay.  It  was  referred  to 
a  select  committee,  consisting  of  Clay,  Preston,  Buchanan, 
Webster,  and  Ewing.  Their  report — written,  perhaps,  by  their 
chairman,  Clay,  for  the  petition  was  drafted  by  him — says, 
in  part: 

"  It  being  established  that  literary  property  is  entitled  to  legal 
protection,  it  results  that  this  protection  ought  to  be  afforded 
wherever  the  property  is  situated.  A  British  merchant  brings 

"Executive  Documents  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  Second  session 
of  the  24th  Congress,  Washington.  1837,  Vol.  4,  doc.  No.  162.  Reprinted 
in  the  Congressional  Record,  soth  Congress,  ist  Session,  Washington,  1888, 
Vol.  19,  pt.  4,  P-  3241. 


101 

or  transmits  to  the  United  States  a  bale  of  merchandise,  and 
the  moment  it  comes  within  the  jurisdiction  of  our  laws,  they 
throw  around  it  effectual  security.  But  if  the  work  of  a  British 
author  is  brought  to  the  United  States,  it  may  be  appropriated 
by  any  resident  here,  and  republished  without  any  compensa 
tion  whatever  being  made  to  the  author.  We  should  all  be 
shocked  if  the  law  tolerated  the  least  invasion  of  the  rights  of 
property  in  the  case  of  the  merchandise,  whilst  those  which 
justly  belong  to  the  works  of  authors  are  exposed  to  daily  viola 
tions,  without  the  possibility  of  their  invoking  the  aid  of  the 
laws." 

The  committee  therefore  recommended  that  protection  be 
granted  to  the  authors  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  and  to 
France,  countries  in  which  the  copyrights  of  Americans  were 
protected  at  this  period.  It  is  but  equity,  they  said  farther,  that 
it  be  given  to  all  other  countries.  The  bill  was  presented  in  the 
Senate  five  times.  Only  one  vote  was  taken,  however,  and  that 
in  the  year  1840,  which  resulted  in  the  bill  being  ordered  to  lie 
upon  the  table. 

Between  1837  and  1842  numerous  petitions  favoring  inter 
national  copyright  and  signed  by  nearly  all  prominent  British 
and  American  writers  were  presented  to  Congress.  In  1838, 
immediately  after  the  passing  of  the  first  international  copy 
right  act  in  Great  Britain,  Lord  Palmerston  invited  the  Ameri 
can  government  to  enter  into  a  copyright  agreement  between 
the  two  countries.33  Two  years  later,  Cornelius  Matthews  and 
George  P.  Putnam  each  issued  pamphlets  in  favor  of  interna 
tional  copyright.  The  title  of  the  latter's  contribution,  which 
appears  to  be  the  first  published  in  the  United  States,  is  An 
Argument  in  Behalf  of  International  Copyright;  in  its  prepara 
tion  he  was  aided  by  Dr.  Francis  Lieber.  In  1843  Putnam 
drafted  a  memorial  which  was  signed  by  ninety-seven  publish 
ers  and  printers  and  presented  to  Congress.  A  pamphlet  in 
answer  to  this  was  issued  at  Philadelphia  in  the  same  year.  Its 
argument  was  that  copyright  prevented  the  adaptation  of  Eng 
lish  books  to  American  purposes. 

In  1843  too  appeared  one  of  the  most  eloquent  of  the  many 

38  Geo.  Haven  Putman,  "  Literary  Property,  "  in  The  Question  of  the 
Copyright,  New  York  1891,  p.  96. 


102 

contributions  to  the  discussion,  one  would  fain  believe  from 
the  pen  of  William  Cullen  Bryant,  under  the  title  of  Address 
to  the  People  of  the  United  States  in  behalf  of  the  American 
Copyright  Club,  signed  by  Bryant,  Francis  L.  Hawks,  and  Cor 
nelius  Matthews. 

"  The  reading  public  of  the  United  States,"  it  runs,  "  — you, 
the  people  of  the  country — have  had  no  voice  in  determining 
what  works  should  be  taken  and  what  left,  of  all  those  cast 
upon  your  shores.  You  have  been  held  in  pupilage,  and  had 
your  reading  put  upon  you  by  the  taste,  or  interest,  or  rashness, 
of  such  as  took  the  business  of  republication  in  charge.  Even 
they  have  not  formed  a  permanent  body,  like  the  booksellers, 
but  have  sprung  up  and  died  off,  two  or  half  a  dozen  a  week, 
in  every  city  in  the  country.  Having  no  settled  interest  in  the 
pursuit,  grown  to  it  and  fashioned  for  it  by  no  previous  train 
ing,  they  have  dealt  with  the  vending  of  books  in  the  veriest 
and  sorriest  spirit  of  trading  and  huckstering.  Eager  for  the 
sale  of  the  hour,  calculating  on  no  permanent  connection  with 
one  particular  class  of  the  public,  they  have  foisted  upon  the 
purchasers  whatever  the  counter  afforded,  crying  it  up  as  the 
choicest  of  the  market,  ready,  the  next  day,  to  thrust  it  out  of 
sight  for  the  newcomer  of  still  choicer  pretensions.  Certain 
books  of  a  noxious  character  being  found  to  hit  the  appetite  of 
certain  readers,  others  of  a  broader  stamp,  in  a  like  view,  have 
been  produced  from  foreign  tongues,  and  distributed  by  the 
thousand  and  ten  thousand.  The  foreign  supply  coming  short, 
native  writers,  of  an  easy  conscience,  have  been  put  in  training, 
to  try  themselves  upon  whatever  is  coarsest  and  vilest.  In  the 
general  hurly-burly  works  of  this  texture  have  escaped  from 
the  by-ways  and  alleys  where  they  were  first  hatched,  and  flare, 
in  broad-day,  in  the  placards  and  windows  of  bookdealers, 
whose  sense  of  propriety  could  have  only  faltered  in  a  general 
decay  of  right  opinion  among  the  people  at  large."34 

The  pamphlet  complains  bitterly  of  the  attitude  of  the  press, 
which  venally  writes  and  publishes  misleading  criticisms  of  the 
ephemeral  publications  of  the  times.  This,  they  point  out,  is 
really  suicide,  for  the  taste  of  the  people  is  in  danger  of  being 
so  vitiated  and  so  fixed  in  the  channel  of  the  cheap  serial 

**  Address  to  the  People  of  the  United  States  in  behalf  of  the  American 
Copyright  Club  Adopted  at  New  York,  October  18,  1843.  New  York,  1843. 
This  is  an  octavo  pamphlet  of  eighteen  pages  signed  by  William  Cullen 
Bryant,  Francis  L.  Hawks,  and  Cornelius  Matthews,  pp.  o-io. 


103 

adapted  publication  that  the  press  would  eventually  languish 
for  lack  of  patronage.  The  American  author,  they  write,  is  in 
danger  of  disappearing,  and  with  him  many  wholesome  aspects 
of  our  nationality.  The  ballad  singers  and  men  of  literature 
in  the  days  of  old  nerved  their  countrymen  up  to  deeds  of 
moral  and  physical  heroism,  but  no  amount  of  cheap  foreign 
literature  will  ever  inspirit  the  Americans  as  Americans  to 
fight  the  battles  of  their  country  in  court  and  mart,  on  field 
and  flood.  Whether  or  not  Bryant  wrote  the  Address,  it  is 
worthy  of  notice  in  passing  that  until  his  death  he  did  yeoman 
service  in  the  cause  of  international  copyright,  thru  the  columns 
of  the  Evening  Post;  and  he  thus  fixed  the  policy  of  this  paper, 
which  contended  for  the  cause  until  the  victory  was  gained. 
But  he  continued  his  efforts  in  other  ways,  for  in  1848,  in  com 
pany  with  John  Gay,  George  P.  Putnam  and  others  he  returned 
to  the  attack,  presenting  in  this  year  a  petition  which  never  got 
further  than  the  select  committee  to  which  it  was  referred. 
In  1853,  to  continue  this  chronicle  as  briefly  as  possible,  Charles 
Sumner,  then  Chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs,  reported  to  the  Senate  a  treaty  which  Everett,  then 
Secretary  of  State,  had  drawn  up.  It  was  reported  favorably 
by  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  While  this  treaty  was 
before  Congress,  five  publishing  houses  of  New  York  addressed 
a  letter  to  Everett  suggesting  an  agreement  practically  identical 
with  the  one  now  in  force.85  In  1858  an  International  Copy 
right  Bill  was  introduced  by  Edward  Jay  Morris  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  but  no  notice  was  taken  of  it. 

Bryant  once  more  entered  the  arena  in  1868,  when  there  was 
issued  a  circular  letter,  Justice  to  Authors  and  Artists,  calling 
for  a  meeting  to  organize  an  international  copyright  associa 
tion.  A  meeting  was  held  on  April  9,  at  which  he  presided. 
The  Copyright  Association  for  the  Protection  and  Advance 
ment  of  Literature  and  Art  was  organized,  with  Bryant  as 
president,  and  E.  C.  Stedman  as  secretary.  The  object  of  the 
Association  was  "to  promote  the  enactment  of  a  just  and 
suitable  international  copyright  law  for  the  benefit  of  authors 

36  Geo.  Haven  Putnam,  "  Literary  Property "  in  The  Question  of  Copy 
right,  New  York,  1891,  p.  67. 


104 

and  artists  in  all  parts  of  the  world."  One  hundred  and  fifty- 
three  signatures  were  secured,  one  hundred  and  one  were  au 
thors,  and  nineteen  were  publishers.88 

In  1872  the  new  Library  Committee  asked  all  those  interested 
in  the  matter  to  assist  in  framing  a  bill.  A  meeting  of  pub 
lishers  was  held  in  New  York.  But  even  yet,  in  spite  of  thirty- 
seven  years  of  agitation,  the  friends  of  international  copyright 
seemed  hopelessly  disorganized,  for  four  reports  and  two  indi 
vidual  suggestions  were  submitted  to  the  Committee.  The 
Harper  Company,  moreover,  presented,  thru  their  counsel,  a 
letter,  which,  among  other  arguments  against  the  bill,  said  that 
"any  measure  of  international  copyright  was  objectionable 
because  it  would  add  to  the  price  of  books,  and  thus  interfere 
with  the  education  of  the  people.87  Senator  Lot  M.  Morrill, 
chairman,  reported  adversely  because  of  the  lack  of  unanimity 
of  opinion  among  those  interested.  Perhaps  a  brief  quotation 
from  his  report  will  be  of  interest  as  showing  the  attitude  of  a 
large  number  of  our  congressmen  at  this  period.  He  main 
tained  that  "  an  international  copyright  was  not  called  for  by 
reasons  of  general  equity  or  of  constitutional  law;  that  the 
adoption  of  any  plan  which  had  been  proposed  would  be  of 
very  doubtful  advantage  to  American  authors,  and  would  not 
only  be  an  unquestionable  and  permanent  injury  to  the  interests 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  books,  but  a  hindrance  to  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge  among  the  people  and  to  the  cause  of 
American  education."38 

The  lack  of  coordination  among  the  friends  of  international 
copyright  was  largely  removed  in  1883  when  the  American 
Copyright  League  was  organized  and  began  an  active  campaign 
to  arouse  popular  sentiment.  Perhaps  they  were  largely  re 
sponsible  for  the  fact  that  in  1884  and  in  1885  the  annual  mes 
sages  of  President  Arthur  and  of  President  Cleveland  con 
tained  strong  recommendations  for  the  passage  of  some  sort 
of  international  copyright  bill. 

"Ibid.,  p.  68. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  70. 

"Congressional  Record,  soth  Congress,  ist  session,  Vol.  19,  pt.  4,  Wash 
ington,  1888,  p.  3511. 


105 

On  January  21,  1886,  the  twelfth  international  copyright  bill 
was  introduced  into  the  Senate  by  Chase  of  Rhode  Island.  The 
Senate  Committee  on  Patents  took  careful  testimony  from 
friends  and  foes  in  four  public  hearings.89  The  Chase  bill 
marked  an  important  turning  point  in  the  history  of  the  struggle. 
The  long  educational  campaign  was  producing  fruit.  It  was 
no  longer  a  question  whether  or  not  there  should  be  interna 
tional  copyright,  but  merely  what  form  it  should  take. 

But  the  friends  of  the  measure  did  not  rest.  The  American 
Publishers'  Copyright  League  was  organized  in  1887.  The 
Executive  Committee  of  this  league  was  given  instructions  to 
cooperate  with  the  American  Copyright  League,  which  was 
composed  of  authors.  A  Conference  Committee  was  imme 
diately  formed  of  the  executive  committees  of  the  two  leagues, 
and  this  body  took  the  leadership  in  all  the  work  done  between 
1887  and  1891.  Copyright  leagues  were  formed  in  Boston, 
Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  Minneapolis,  Denver,  Buffalo, 
Colorado  Springs,  and  in  many  other  places.  Missionary  work 
was  carried  on  with  such  zeal  that  the  public  conscience  began 
to  be  aroused.  The  matter  was  taken  up  in  the  pulpit;  The 
National  Sin  of  Piracy,  a  classic  of  its  kind,  by  the  Rev.  Henry 
Van  Dyke  of  New  York,  was  widely  circulated.  The  press, 
secular  and  religious,  made  international  copyright  a  question 
of  the  day. 

Authors  gave  what  were  called  "  author's  readings,"  in 
which  the  leading  American  writers  read  selections  from  their 

38  Mr.  Dana  Estes,  of  the  Boston  firm  of  Estes,  Lauriat  &  Co.,  said  at 
one  of  these  hearings :  "  For  two  years  past  tho  I  belong  to  a  publishing 
house  that  emits  nearly  $1,000,000  worth  of  books  per  year,  I  have  abso 
lutely  refused  to  entertain  the  idea  of  publishing  an  American  manuscript. 
I  have  returned  many  scores,  if  not  hundreds,  of  manuscripts  of  Ameri 
can  authors,  unopened  even,  simply  from  the  fact  that  it  is  impossible  to 
make  the  books  of  most  American  authors  pay,  unless  they  are  first  pub 
lished  and  acquire  recognition  through  the  columns  of  the  magazines. 
Were  it  not  for  that  one  saving  opportunity  of  the  great  American  maga 
zines  which  are  now  the  leading  ones  of  the  world  and  have  an  inter 
national  reputation  and  circulation,  American  authorship  would  be  at  a  still 
lower  ebb  than  at  present."  (Senate  Reports,  ist  Session,  49th  Congress, 
1885-86,  Washington,  1886,  Vol.  7,  Report  No.  1188,  p.  53.)  Mr.  Henry 
Holt  made  a  very  similar  speech  at  the  same  time. 


106 

own  works.  These  were  widely  attended  and  served  as  effect 
ive  advertisements  of  their  cause,  while  the  receipts  aided  in 
the  expense  of  the  campaign.  Among  those  who  took  part  in 
these  readings  were  Eggleston,  Stedman,  Stoddard,  Gilder, 
Stockton,  Bunner,  Cable,  Page,  Julian  Hawthorne,  and  Harris. 

Such  is  the  outline  of  the  struggle  for  protection  by  Amer 
ican  and  British  authors,  aided  finally  by  practically  every  im 
portant  American  publisher,  for  even  the  Harpers  had  radically 
changed  their  views  since  1872.  What  then  were  those  potent 
forces  working  against  international  copyright  which  so  long 
defeated  every  attempt? 

One  of  the  strongest  influences  has  already  been  indicated — 
ignorance  and  apathy  on  the  subject.  The  large  majority  of 
the  Americans  were  indifferent.  They  did  not  at  first  see 
clearly  the  moral  obliquity  inherent  in  the  purchase  of  a  pirated 
volume,  or  the  serious  injury  they  were  doing  to  American 
nationality  when  they  failed  to  encourage  the  American 
author  by  buying  his  book.  They  did  not  see  the  danger  of 
the  loss  of  national  ideals  thru  the  reading  of  cheap  books 
entirely  at  variance  with  the  democratic  and  social  fiber  of 
our  lives,  which  formed  an  alarming  proportion  of  the  reading 
of  the  masses.  On  these  points  our  national  conscience  was 
not  dead  but  only  sleeping  to  awaken  at  the  earnest  call  of 
those  of  clearer  vision,  who  were  to  show  the  people  that,  as 
Lowell  put  it,  "  There  is  one  thing  better  than  a  cheap  book, 
and  that  is  a  book  honestly  come  by " ;  and,  he  might  have 
added,  one  that  bears  an  honest  message. 

The  measure  was  regarded  by  some  as  class  legislation  and 
as  monopolistic  in  character.  The  question  of  copyright  was 
very  early  confused  with  that  of  the  protective  tariff.  The 
protectionists  were  those  most  opposed  to  the  measure.  At 
first  sight  it  looks  as  though  the  exact  opposite  should  have 
been  the  case,  for  the  American  author  was  but  asking  that 
the  product  of  his  labor  should  be  protected  from  imported 
goods  upon  which  no  duty  (copyright)  had  been  paid,  but 
which  had  been  simply  "  appropriated  " ;  and  that  he  be  not 
undersold.  What  troubled  the  protectionists,  however,  was 
the  possibility  that  if  the  privilege  of  selling  books  were 


107 

granted  to  foreigners,  they  might  be  printed  abroad ;  and  thus 
the  mechanical  features  of  the  production  of  books  assumed 
a  much  more  important  aspect  in  their  eyes  than  the  intellectual 
and  spiritual  side.  The  binding  was  worth  more  than  the  con 
tent,  the  ink  than  the  idea.  Indeed  the  final  treaty  was  for  a 
while  in  danger  because  of  the  opposition  of  the  Typographical 
Union.  The  same  attitude  had  been  present  in  Great  Britain. 
Mr.  William  H.  Appleton,  in  defense  of  himself  and  the  Amer 
ican  people,  made  the  charge  that  Great  Britain  had  never 
offered  the  United  States  a  treaty  shaped  merely  for  the  pro 
tection  of  the  author,  but  that  "  it  is  really  an  authors'  and 
publishers'  copyright  that  is  demanded  of  us — Every  arrange 
ment  that  England  has  hitherto  offered  is  but  a  kind  of  legal 
saddle  for  the  English  publisher  to  ride  his  author  into  the 
American  book-market."40 

Philadelphia  was  the  chief  center  of  opposition  to  an  inter 
national  copyright  agreement,  tho  to  a  Philadelphian,  Henry 
C.  Lea,  was  due  the  wording  of  the  typesetting  and  non 
importation  clauses,  the  insertion  of  which  bridged  the  gap 
between  authors  and  publishers  and  made  the  final  treaty  pos 
sible.  Mr.  Henry  Carey  Baird  of  Philadelphia  was  the  leader 
of  the  opposition,  and  the  most  able  exponent  of  the  advan 
tages  of  existing  conditions.  In  1872  he  presided  over  a  meet 
ing  held  at  Philadelphia  at  which  the  following  resolutions 
were  adopted : 

"  I.  That  thought,  unless  expressed,  is  the  property  of  the 
thinker;  when  given  to  the  world,  it  is,  as  light,  free  to  all. 

2.  As  property  it  can  only  demand  the  protection  of  the  mu 
nicipal  laws  of  the  country  to  which  the  thinker  is  subject. 

3.  The  author  of  any  country,  by  becoming  a  citizen  of  this, 
and  assuming  and  performing  the  duties  thereof,  can  have 
the  same  protection  than  an  American  author  has.     4.  The 
trading  of  privileges  to  foreign  authors  for  privileges  to  be 
granted   to   Americans   is    not   just,   because   the   interest   of 
others  than  themselves  may  be  sacrificed  thereby.     5.  Because 
the  good  of  the  whole  people,  and  the  safety  of  republican  in 
stitutions,  demand  that  books  shall  not  be  made  costly  for  the 

40  William  H.  Appleton,  Letters  on  International  Copyright,  New  York, 
1872.  Pamphlet,  octavo,  pp.  25,  p.  7. 


108 

multitude  by  giving  the  power  to  foreign  authors  to  fix  their 
price  here  as  well  as  abroad."41 

This  quotation  shows  concisely  the  views  held  by  the  oppo 
nents  of  international  copyright  law,  tho  Mr.  Baird  omits  one 
important  argument,  put  forth  by  his  allies,  that  such  a  law 
would  hinder  adaptation.  No  evidence  is  obtainable  that  the 
first  half  of  the  first  proposition  met  with  a  very  indignant 
denial.  The  second  half  embodies  a  confusion  of  form  and 
content  which  was  especially  prevalent  during  the  entire  dis 
cussion.  Probably  the  facts  of  Von  Hoist's  history  are  com 
mon  property,  as  Mr.  Baird  argues,  but  the  person  who  makes 
too  liberal  use  of  his  facts  plus  his  form  is  apt  to  repent. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  each  of  these  articles,  but  the 
last  one  is  of  especial  importance;  for  what  popular  opposi 
tion  there  was  to  international  copyright  is  largely  embodied  in 
it.  Books  whose  influence  were  for  the  "good  of  the  whole 
people"  were,  it  is  safe  to  say  now,  not  really  made  more 
costly.  "  Libraries "  or  series  of  books,  composed  over 
whelmingly  of  fiction  taken  without  compensation  from  the 
works  of  British  authors,  did  furnish  cheap  reading.  New 
numbers  of  these  pirated  series  appeared  sometimes  as  often 
as  twice  a  week.  It  can  be  readily  imagined  what  class  of 
fiction  was  necessarily  published  when  it  was  issued  at  that 
rate.  Anything  would  do  to  fill  in.  Other  classes  of  books, 
those  that  needed  careful  and  accurate  printing  and  illus 
tration  were  seldom  printed,  for  the  reputable  publisher  knew 
that  a  cheaper  pirated  edition,  no  matter  what  its  imperfec 
tions,  might  cause  an  actual  loss  on  his  conscientious  pro 
duction. 

"Adaptation,"  mentioned  above,  was  one  of  the  war  cries 
of  the  opposition.  An  international  copyright  law,  they 
argued,  would  prevent  British  books  on  such  subjects  as  theol 
ogy,  education,  and  law  from  being  modified  to  meet  American 
conditions. 

"Adaptation"   particularly   excited   the   ire   of   the   British 

41  Geo.  Haven  Putnam,  "  Literary  Property,"  in  The  Question  of  the 
Copyright,  New  York,  1891,  p.  73.  The  passage  may  not  be  a  direct  quo 
tation,  as  it  is  not  so  indicated.  I  have  been  unable  to  identify  it. 


109 

writers,  tho  the  danger  of  mutilation  was  far  greater  in  the 
case  of  the  Americans.  Much  more  often  did  a  dash  of  the 
proof-reader's  pen  across  the  title  page  rob  the  latter  of  that 
glory  to  which  Lord  Camden  himself  thought  they  were  en 
titled.  Even  at  a  very  early  period  British  writers  were  too 
well  known  and  too  widely  read  for  garbled  versions  to  go 
undetected,  and  once  detected,  the  public  demanded  a  correct 
copy.  That  exquisite  literary  gem,  the  footnote  in  which 
Mistress  Anne  Hunter  so  sweetly  explains  just  why  she  came 
to  write  Freneau's  Death  Song  of  a  Cherokee  Indian*2  could 
hardly  have  been  produced,  and  afterwards  stumbled  over  by 
two  editors,  in  America,  where  a  more  intimate  acquaintance 
with  British  literature  would  have  caused  the  immediate  dis 
covery  of  a  corresponding  theft. 

To  name  but  one  example:  in  1796  one  Mr.  Prigmore  at 
tempted  to  produce  The  School  for  Citizens  which  he  had 
altered  without  acknowledgment  from  a  British  comedy.43 
The  mistake  in  judgment  was  atrocious:  had  he  merely  adapted 
Kotzebue,  as  did  Dunlap  himself,  he  would  have  received  ap 
probation  instead  of  excoriation.  The  struggle  of  the  Amer 
ican  playwright  against  the  exploitation  of  foreign  authors  was 
even  more  bitter  and  desperate  than  had  been  that  of  the 
novelist;  for  in  their  case  they  must  take  the  field  against 
English,  French,  and  German.  Mr.  Wilkins  has  found  fifty- 
six  works  of  Kotzebue  alone  reprinted  in  this  country  between 
1799  and  1826.  Scribe  and  other  French  dramatists  soon 
reached  America,  and  what  these  two  countries  could  not  sup 
ply  could  be  secured  in  England.  The  financial  reasons  of 
the  publishers  for  preferring  British  novels  were  multiplied 
four  fold  for  the  stage  manager  in  the  case  of  a  tested  play. 
In  1814  a  dealer  at  Baltimore  writes  that  his  sales  of  British 
plays  amount  to  $400  per  year.  Nothing  is  said  about  the 
sales  of  American  playwrights.  Miller,  January  10,  1821, 
offers  Barry  Cornwall's  Mirandola  to  Carey,  but  adds  that  he 

42  Moses  Coit  Tyler,  The  Literary  History  of  the  American  Revolution, 
New  York,  1897,  Vol.  I,  p.  179. 

"William  Dunlap,  A  History  of  the  American  Theater,  New  York,  1832, 
p.  197- 


110 

is  engaged  to  furnish  Mr.  Price  of  New  York  and  Warren  & 
Wood  of  Philadelphia  with  early  copies  for  the  use  of  their 
respective  theaters.  Munden  and  Thompson  of  New  York 
approach  Carey,  in  April,  1821,  for  an  exchange  of  plays. 
They  have,  they  write,  arranged  to  receive  from  London  new 
plays  which  they  wish  to  offer  to  the  theaters  of  both  cities. 

The  general  attitude  of  theatrical  managers  is  summed  up 
in  a  letter  by  William  B.  Wood  of  Baltimore,  who  writes, 
May  17,  1821 :  "As  to  Lord  Byron's  Tragedy,44  we  are  all  im 
patience  to  see  it,  altho  it  was  announced  as  a  non  actable 
drama.  However,  if  it  is  possible  to  make  it  a  night's  enter 
tainment  it  shall  go  hard  but  we  shall  do  it."  A  great  name  as 
well  as  a  great  success  was  evidently  enough  to  impress  an 
American  stage  manager.  The  stream  of  transatlantic  plays 
that  flowed  into  America  was  as  continuous  as  that  of  the 
novels,  tho  from  more  varied  sources.  Whether  or  not  it 
accounts  for  the  non-appearance  of  a  great  dramatic  genius  is 
a  matter  of  mere  conjecture:  that  it  lessened  the  productions 
of  talent  is  a  fact. 

It  should  be  added  that,  ending  with  1850,  the  British  laws 
had  been  interpreted  so  as  to  protect  the  American  author.  The 
simple  sense  of  justice,  however,  did  not  come  strongly  enough 
to  Americans  as  a  nation  to  enable  them  to  meet  this  attitude 
half  way  and  to  settle  the  matter  thus  early.  And  so  to  the 
incalculable  detriment  of  both  British  and  Americans  the  mat 
ter  was  allowed  to  take  the  destructive  course  which  has  just 
been  sketched. 

But  the  optimist  who  is  looking  for  comfort  in  this  dreary 
warfare,  other  than  that  the  struggle  was  finally  won,  can  find 
it  in  the  progress  of  the  magazine.  Two  letters  have  been 
quoted,  one  to  Poe  and  one  to  Simms,  which  explain  better 
than  pages  of  theorizing  its  advantages  and  its  dangers.  The 
"  mammoth  Weeklies  "  we  see  had  aided  greatly  in  decreasing 
the  popularity  of  Simms.45  In  the  case  of  a  writer  who  had 

44  Byron  published  four  in  this  year. 

**  Simms'  first  volume  of  prose  (Martin  Faber,  1833)  was  a  collection  of 
short  stories.  Then  follow  twelve  novels  (not  counting  The  Book  of  My 
Lady,  1833,  a  collection  of  stories)  which  appear  up  to  1842.  In  1844 


Ill 

no  talent  for  the  short  story  there  was  no  compensation;  but 
when  Poe  writes  a  comparatively  unpopular  Narrative  of 
Arthur  Pym,49  and  later  finds  no  publisher  for  his  "  new  col 
lection  of  Tales,"  he  can  return  to  improving  the  short  story 
and  (as  a  corollary)  to  building  up  the  magazines.  Just  what 
influence  such  conditions  exerted  in  turning  the  genius  of  Poe 
away  from  the  novel  and  keeping  it  in  the  channel  of  the  short 
story  probably  no  one  is  qualified  to  state.  When,  however, 
we  consider  the  writer  of  talent  we  have  something  more  than 
hypothesis.  Mr.  Estes,  in  the  speech  quoted  from  on  page  105, 
cited  Miss  Murfree  ("Charles  Egbert  Craddock")  as  an  ex 
ample  of  an  exquisite  talent  that  would  never  have  been  known 
had  it  not  been  for  the  saving  influence  of  the  magazine.  And 
for  obvious  reasons  are  we  not  inclined  to  underestimate  in 
our  survey  of  literature  the  potency  of  the  men  and  women 
just  under  genius  ? 

Such  a  saving  influence  to  talent  and  to  latent  genius  it  was 
that  Mathew  Carey  exerted  in  America  from  1784  to  1839.  In 
those  hundreds  of  thousands  of  letters  and  accounts  that  rep 
resent  his  publishing  activity  from  1787  to  1823,  and  in  the 
glimpse  we  get  of  his  successors,  sons  and  grandsons,  in  the 
letters  between  1834  and  1837  and  between  1841  and  1842, 
are  contained  hints  of  hopes  and  anxieties  that  animated  a 
long  line  of  his  contemporaries,  business  men  as  well  as  liter 
ary.  Here  are  names  long  ago  in  oblivion's  dust,  names  that 
are  fast  going  thither,  and  names  that  will  live  forever.  Frank 
lin,  Washington,  Lafayette,  and  Jefferson  had  occasion  to  ad 
dress  him.  Dwight,  Freneau,  Belknap,  Mrs.  Rowson,  Noah 
Webster,  Irving,  Miss  Davidson,  Neal,  Cooper,  Poe,  Simms, 
and  Dickens  sought  him  as  a  publisher,  in  many  cases  as  a 
personal  friend.  Weems  relieves  his  querulousness  in  many  a 

appears  The  Prima  Donna,  a  short  story,  and  after  this  period  the  extra 
ordinary  array  of  two-volume  novels  is  broken  in  a  remarkable  manner. 
In  1836  he  begins  his  chief  contributions,  of  a  critical  nature  largely,  to 
the  magazines.  (William  P.  Trent,  William  Gilmore  Simms,  Boston,  1892, 
PP-  335-341.)  It  appears  that  Simms  is  trying  to  adapt  himself  to  the 
literary  conditions  of  the  country. 

40  It  seems  to  have  had  a  better  reception  in  England,  where  it  was  re- 
published  in  1838,  1841,  and  1861. 


112 

painful  quire,  Dabney47  defends  his  translation  of  Eugene 
against  the  critics  with  a  fervor  that  softens  the  adjacent  seals; 
while  letter  after  letter  that  has  little  or  no  relation  to  busi 
ness  shows  how  widely  Carey's  name  had  penetrated  and  how 
much  trust  was  reposed  in  his  judgment  and  tenderness  of 
heart.  When  Thomas  and  Andrews,  his  first  great  rivals, 
hesitate  or  refuse  to  publish  the  works  of  an  unknown  author, 
he  ventures,  on  account  of  the  patriotism  in  his  warm  Irish 
nature,  in  behalf  of  the  struggling  or  the  obscure  writer. 
Genius  can  generally  care  for  itself,  but  the  talent  of  the 
country  greatly  needed  such  a  friend  as  it  found  in  Mathew 
Carey.  Exactly  how  much  he  influenced  the  production  of 
American  literature  can  be  told  only  by  that  deeply  psycho 
logical  study  which  determines  just  how  far  the  writers  that 
will  live  in  our  literature  used  the  minor  ones,  which  he  alone 
encouraged,  to  build  upon,  and  to  what  extent  they  themselves 
would  otherwise  have  succumbed  to  untoward  circumstances. 
But  surely  his  influence  must  have  been  far  more  potent  than 
that  of  many  a  writer  whose  biography  has  long  adorned  our 
libraries.  We  have  firm  ground  under  our  feet  as  we  turn 
from  the  producer  to  the  consumer.  When  the  history  of 
literary  culture  in  America  is  written  no  small  praise  must 
be  given  to  the  man  who  caused  books  and  all  their  attendant 
blessings  to  penetrate  even  beyond  the  Mississippi  while  yet 
the  Indian  disputed  possession  with  the  white  man. 

47  Richard  Dabney  (1787-1825)  was  born  in  Louisa  County,  Virginia. 
His  early  schooling  was  neglected,  but  at  the  age  of  about  sixteen  he  began 
to  study  the  classics  and  made  rapid  progress.  In  1811  he  was  injured  by 
the  burning  of  the  Richmond  theater,  opium  was  prescribed  and  he  became 
a  slave  to  the  habit  and  also  to  strong  drink.  His  Poems,  Original  and 
Translated  were  published  in  a  thin  duodecimo  volume  at  Richmond  in 
1812.  It  was  not  popular,  and  the  author  attempted  to  suppress  it.  In 
1815  an  enlarged  edition  containing  translations  from  the  Greek  and  the 
Latin  and  showing  considerable  scholarship  and  power  of  expression  was 
published,  by  Carey,  at  Philadelphia.  For  this  volume  Carey  paid  him  $40. 
He  was  employed  quite  frequently  by  Carey  as  a  translator,  proofreader 
and  collector  of  literary  materials.  In  the  latter  capacity  he  gave  con 
siderable  aid  in  the  production  of  the  Olive  Branch.  A  long  series  of 
letters  from  him  is  found  in  the  correspondence  for  1814. 


113 

There  has  been  no  sustained  attempt  in  this  study  to  bring 
out  the  inspiring  patriotism  of  the  man ;  and  no  fully  adequate 
one  to  show  his  lovable  nature;  for  his  name  ranks  high 
among  American  philanthropists.  Perhaps  Poe,  who  knew 
him  personally,  has  given  the  best  estimate  of  his  character  in 
his  review  of  Carey's  Autobiography48  when  he  says  that  "  In 
the  whole  private  and  public  course  of  Mr.  Mathew  Carey  the 
strictest  scrutiny  can  detect  nothing  derogatory  to  the  char 
acter  of  '  the  noblest  work  of  God,  an  honest  man/  "49 

48  Published   in   The  New  England  Magazine,   Boston,    1833-4,   Vols.  5, 
6,  7. 

49  The  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  Richmond,   1836,  Vol.  II,  p.  203. 


APPENDIX   I 

William  Cobbett,  after  his  return  to  England,  in  June,  1800, 
set  up,  under  encouragement  from  the  government,  his  Weekly 
Register  which  afterwards  became  famous.  But  he  changed 
rapidly  from  Toryism  to  Radicalism.  Among  the  memories  of 
America  that  he  took  back  with  him  was  that  of  the  liberty  of 
the  press.  When  he  threw  himself  with  such  ardor  into  the 
reform  movements  which  culminated  later  in  the  Reform  Bill 
of  1832  and  in  the  Corn  Laws  he  sought  aid  in  America  in 
direct  contributions  from  the  pens  of  other  writers  as  well  as 
in  the  republication  of  his  own  articles.  Then  it  was  that  he 
recalled  his  former  enemy,  who,  on  his  side,  was  always  willing 
to  forgive  and  to  fight  under  the  banner  of  any  man  who 
sought  to  better  the  conditions  of  the  human  race.  Carey 
won  him  other  friends  in  this  country,  notable  among  whom 
was  Richard  Rush. 

Later,  in  1817,  when  Cobbett's  long  fight  for  political  and 
social  betterment  had  aroused  the  wrath  of  a  reactionary  and 
unscrupulous  ministry,  he  was  forced  to  flee  to  America,  where 
he  remained  until  November,  I8I9-1  Just  before  leaving  he 
wrote  "  Mr.  Cobbett's  Taking  Leave  of  his  Countrymen,"  which 
appeared  in  the  Weekly  Register  for  April  5,  1817. 

"  If  I  remain  here,"  he  says,  "  I  must  cease  to  write,  either 
from  compulsion,  or  from  a  sense  of  duty  to  my  countrymen ; 
therefore  it  is  impossible  to  do  any  good  to  the  cause  of  my 
country  by  remaining  in  it ;  but,  if  I  remove  to  a  country  where 
I  can  write  with  perfect  freedom,  it  is  not  only  possible,  but 
very  probable,  that  I  shall,  sooner  or  later,  be  able  to  render 
that  cause  important  and  lasting  service  ...  7  can  serve  that 
cause  no  longer  by  remaining  here;  but  the  cause  itself  is  so 
good,  so  just,  so  manifestly  right  and  virtuous,  and  has  been 
combated  by  means  so  unusual,  so  unnatural  and  so  violent, 
that  it  must  triumph  in  the  end" 

1  See  p.   1 1 8. 

114 


115 

(W.  Cobbett  to  M.  Carey) 

BOTLEY,  NEAR  SOUTHAMPTON,    1 6  July,    1815. 

Dear  Sir, 

I  thank  you  for  the  little  work,  which  you  have  been  so 
good  as  to  send  me,  and  of  which,  you  may  be  assured,  I  shall 
make  the  best  use  in  my  power.  We  have  now  lived  to  see 
the  necessity  of  a  secure  and  hearty  co-operation  between  the 
friends  of  wisdom  in  all  countries,  and  especially  those  of  Eng 
land  and  America.  Terrible  as  things  seem  here ;  bent,  as  we 
appear  to  be,  upon  rooting  out  the  very  fibers  of  freedom  all 
over  the  earth,  there  are  many,  very  many,  good  men  in  Eng 
land;  excellent  minds;  and  what  now  appears  outwardly  to 
be  the  sweeping  triumph  of  tyranny,  is,  in  fact,  a  desperate 
struggle  of  tyranny,  whose  monstrous  exertions  must  finally 
defeat  herself,  and  in  dealing  blows  against  whom  you  have 
been  very  successful.  Your  two  works  contain  much  informa 
tion,  peculiarly  useful  to  me.  The  Olive  Branch  has  found  its 
way  to  me  from  Boston.  Situated,  as  I  am,  at  such  a  distance 
from  London,  I  have  few  opportunities  of  sending  anything  to 
America;  but  if  you  will  point  out  anything  that  I  can  do  for 
you,  I  will,  if  within  my  power,  do  it.  I  now  do  myself 
the  pleasure  to  send  you  a  Copy  of  Mr.  Birkbeck's  Tour  in 
France  last  year;  very  well  worth  your  reading. 

I  perceive,  that  there  are  some  writers  in  America,  and  one 
or  two  amongst  the  friends  of  freedom,  who  delight  in  remind 
ing  their  readers,  that  I  once  labored  to  an  end,  the  opposite 
of  that,  at  which  I  now  aim.  That  the  seekers  after  titles 
and  tyranny  should  act  thus,  is,  by  no  means,  surprising;  but, 
there  are  two  good  causes,  which  ought  to  restrain  the  latter: 
justice  to  me,  and  good  to  the  world.  As  to  the  former,  ought 
it  not  to  be  bourne  in  mind,  that  youth,  inexperience,  prejudice 
of  education,  concurring  with  the  universal  abuse  of  my  native 
country,  at  the  time,  were  quite  sufficient  to  account  for  an 
ardent  mind  taking  a  wrong  bias  and  obstinately  persevering 
therein,  especially  under  that  legal  persecution  which  I  am 
always  ready  to  assert,  that  I  endured  in  America.  If  I  have 
been  brought  round  by  the  feeling  of  greater  persecution  and 
by  that  alone ;  admit  this  to  be  the  fact,  what  is  there  faulty  in 
it?  For  what  do  men  live,  but  to  grow  wiser? 

For  what  is  experience  but  to  correct  their  errors?  Then, 
as  to  the  latter  cause;  ought  not  the  friends  of  freedom  in 
America  to  reflect,  that,  though  they  may,  in  some  small 
degree,  lessen  the  effect  of  my  writings  by  their  conduct  above 
mentioned,  they  can  thereby  only  do  so  much  harm  to  the 
cause,  which  those  writings  are  so  well  calculated  to  aid.  For 


116 

my  part,  I  have  recollections  of  the  past  errors  or  past  hostility 
of  those  who  now  tug  at  the  same  oar  with  myself.  With  a 
great  facility  at  writing;  with  a  stock  of  experience  such  as 
few  men  possess ;  with  a  mass  of  information  collected  from 
all  sources;  with  great  disposition  to  labour;  and  with  health 
such  as  falls  to  the  lot  of  not  one  man  out  of  ten  thousand, 
to  which  add  easy  circumstances  and  an  obedient  family  of 
promising  children;  few  men  have  such  power  to  do  good  in 
the  cause  of  mankind.  This  good  I  am  endeavoring  to  do. 
This  must  be  clear  to  every  man  in  America.  It  is,  therefore, 
to  say  the  least  of  it,  very  silly  and  waspish  to  carp  at  the 
errors  of  1796.  As  to  the  ruffians  who  still  affect  to  think 
that  I  was  once  in  the  way  of  this  government  they  are  beneath 
notice.  However,  after  all,  these  carpings  will  have  no  effect 
worth  speaking  of.  Twenty  years  experience  has  taught  me, 
that  people  will  read  that  which  is  written  to  their  taste,  and 
that,  sooner  or  later,  reason  and  truth  will  prevail,  if  they  are 
put  before  sensible  people  in  a  way  to  be  clearly  understood. 

I  congratulate  you  most  heartily  upon  the  defeat  of  the 
Royal  Pirates  of  the  Straights  by  your  gallant  Navy.2     Even 
this  is  a  blow  against  general  tyranny.     Even  this  inculcates 
the  excellence  of  your  political  institutions,  and  tends  to  extend 
the  effects  of  your  example.     Be  united;  concede  a  little  on 
both  sides  amongst  yourselves ;  and  you  will  be  not  only  happy 
and  free  but,  will  make  other  nations  the  same. 
To  Mr.  M.  Carey 
Philadelphia. 

I  am,  dear  sir, 

Your  most  obedt  sert 

WM.  COBBETT. 

(W.  Cobbett  to  M.  Carey) 

LONDON,  5  January,  1816. 
Dear  Sir, 

I  am  very  sorry  to  learn,  that  you  have  not  received  the 
copy  of  Major  Cartwright's  little  book.  I  saw  him  yesterday, 
in  a  few  hours  after  I  had  received  yours  of  the  I7th  of  No 
vember,  and  though  he  has  but  one  copy  left,  he  has  promised 
me,  that  I  shall  have  it  to  send  to  you,  to  do  which,  securely  I 
shall  have  an  opportunity  in  a  few  weeks. 

*Th*  Pride  of  Brittania  Humbled;  or,  The  Queen  of  the  Ocean  Un- 
qitccn'd  by  the  American  Cock-boats,  etc,  etc..  Illustrated  and  demon 
strated  by  four  Letters  to  Lord  Liverpool  (Philadelphia,  1815)  is  one  of 
the  several  pamphlets  by  Cobbett  which  the  Americans  saw  fit  to  publish 
at  this  period. 


117 

The  "Olive  Branch"  would  have  bourne,  not  a  "small," 
but  a  "large  edition";  but,  it  would  have  clapp'd  the  pub 
lisher,  for  2  years,  in  Newgate,  or,  in  some  more  deadly  jail.  / 
was  afraid  to  cause  the  Exposition  to  be  published;  or,  even 
lend  it.  By  exciting  a  great  deal  of  curiosity  about  it,  and  by 
throwing  it  in  the  way  of  a  man  who  thought  less  of  danger 
than  of  profit,  five  editions  of  it  was  got  out.  Shame  appears 
to  have  restrained  the  arm  of  power  upon  this  occasion.  If 
one  dared  even  to  discuss,  in  the  mildest  way,  any  ticklish 
subject,  do  you  think  that  the  brave  people  of  Ireland,  could  be 
shut  up  in  their  houses  from  sunset  to  sunrise  upon  pain  of 
transportation. 

I  am  very  happy  that  you  think  that  I  have  done  some  ser 
vice  to  America,  and  still  more  to  hear  your  animating  de 
scription  of  her  prosperity.  If  that  continue,  and  if  her  sons 
be  wise,  the  Despots  have,  even  now,  done  nothing  as  to  the 
final  accomplishment  of  their  views.  The  fate  of  freedom  is 
yet  unknown  to  them;  and  they  seem  to  perceive  it,  and  to 
give  signs  of  their  fears,  every  time  that  America  is  mentioned. 

You,  who  saw  England  so  long  ago,  can  form  no  idea  of  the 
sort  of  government  that  we  have  now.  The  parliament  of 
your  time  was  a  thing  no  more  resembling  that  of  this  day, 
than  a  Greyhound  resembles  a  Hyena.  No  man  of  any  sense 
ever  feels  any  interest  in  its  proceedings.  The  affairs  of  the 
country  are,  however,  drawing  very  fast  towards  a  crisis. 
The  war  has  left  a  load  behind  it  far  more  dangerous  to  the 
government  than  any  event  of  mere  war  could  ever  have  been. 
Pecuniary  distress  has  spread  consternation  amongst  the  ranks. 
Every  one  has  his  remedy,  and  all  fear  some  great  and  terrible 
convulsion. 

I  should  only  put  you  to  expense  by  enclosing  any  of  my 
Registers;  but,  if  some  parts  of  the  late  Numbers,  which  I 
have  sent  out  in  the  hope  of  their  being  republished,  meet 
your  eye,  you  will  see  that  I  am  resolved  no  longer  to  suffer 
my  communications  with  America  to  be  interrupted  by  the 
means  hitherto  practiced ;  and  from  the  same  source,  you  will 
also  learn  the  real  situation  in  this  country,  which  is  precisely, 
and  to  the  very  letter,  the  opposite  of  that  of  America,  agree 
ably  to  your  description. 

In  a  few  weeks,  I  shall  write  to  you  again,  and,  I  shall  then 
send  Major  Cartwright's  book,3  with,  perhaps,  some  other 

3  This  was  probably  Major  John  Cartwright's  Six  Letters  to  the  Marquis 
of  Tavistock,  on  a  Reform  of  the  Commons  House  of  Parliament,  1812. 
Major  John  Cartwright  (1740-1824)  entered  the  navy  at  the  age  of  eigh 
teen.  About  1775  he  began  to  take  an  active  interest  in  political  affairs, 


118 

thing  or  two  if  I  meet  with  them  worth  your  notice,  and  likely 
to  be  of  use. 

In  the  meanwhile  I  remain  your 

Most  obedient  and  most  hu —  serv't. 

WM.  COBBETT. 

(From  Wm.  Cobbett,  Jr.) 

To  Mr.  M.  Carey, 
Philadelphia. 

No.  86,  MAIDEN  LANE,  NEW  YORK,  7  May.  1817 
Dear  Sir, 

My  father  and  brother  John  Morgan  and  myself  are  just 
arrived  here,  having  stuck  to  our  own  country  to  the  last  hour. 
The  former  is  gone  to  look  about  him  a  little  in  Long  Island, 
but  desired  me  to  write  a  line  by  Messieurs  Archambault  and 
Rousseau,  the  bearers,  with  his  kindest  regards  to  you. — These 
two  gentlemen  were  lately  of  Bonaparte's  suite;  they  are  two 
out  of  four  that  our  government  would  not  allow  to  remain 
with  him  at  St.  Helena;  they  came  in  the  same  ship  with  us 
from  Liverpool,  and  are  now  in  quest  of  Joseph  Bonaparte. 
They  made  us  very  agreeable  companions  on  board  the  ship, 
and  my  father  wishes  to  be  of  any  service  he  can  to  them  as 
they  are  perfect  strangers  in  this  country,  and  cannot  even 
speak  the  language  enough  to  pay  their  way ;  Therefore  my 
father  would  esteem  it  very  kind  of  you  to  put  them  in  the 
way  of  finding  King  Joseph's  house  in  Philadelphia,  after 
which  they  will  be  at  home. 

Hoping  that  yourself  and  Mrs.  Morgan  are  well, 

I  beg  you  to  believe  me,  Dear  Sir, 
Mr.  J.  Morgan  Yours  very  sincerely, 

WM  COBBETT,  JR. 

and  became  a  champion  of  the  Americans.  A  Letter  to  Edmund  Burke, 
controverting  the  Principles  of  American  Government  laid  down  in  his 
lately  published  speech  on  American  Taxation  is  a  brief  in  their  behalf. 
He  refused  to  join  Lord  Howe's  command  against  America.  Among  the 
reforms  he  advocated  were  those  of  an  annual  parliament  and  universal 
suffrage  ;  he  was  also  an  anti-slavery  leader,  and  was  called  the  Father  of 
Reform.  From  1803  to  1804  he  contributed  papers  to  Cobbett's  Register 
on  the  defenseless  condition  of  England.  In  1810,  1812,  and  1823  he  pub 
lished  works  on  constitutional  reforms.  He  was  active  in  the  cause  of 
the  Greeks.  In  1813  he  was  arrested  in  the  course  of  a  political  tour, 
but  released  soon  after.  In  1820  he  was  tried  and  fined  for  sedition. 


APPENDIX   II 

Stansbury,  the  writer  of  this  letter,  was  a  printer  of  con 
siderable  repute  in  his  day.  His  date  for  the  first  use  of 
lithography  in  America  is  worth  noticing. 

"  NEW  YORK  Novem.  12.  1821 
"Dew  Sir, 

"I  take  the  liberty  of  sending  you  herewith  several  speci 
mens  of  engraving  executed  in  the  French  method  on  stone. 
With  the  general  history  of  this  art,  now  so  much  in  use  on  the 
Continent,  you  are  no  doubt  acquainted:  the  present  I  believe 
is  the  first  instance  of  its  application  to  any  useful  purpose  in 
this  Country.  .  .  ." 

ARTHUR  Jo.  STANSBURY. 


119 


APPENDIX   III 

The  following  list  is  given,  as  indicated  at  page  31,  as  a 
typical  order  of  the  period  about  1800.  It  shows  that  the  read 
ing  of  the  general  public  at  that  time  was  of  quite  as  ephemeral 
a  nature  as  it  is  at  present. 

i  Mansion  House — I  Ethelinde 

I  The  Abbess— i  Ivy  Castle 

I  Abbey  of  St  Asaph 

i  Neighborhood 

i  Suzette's  Dowry 

4  Simple  Story — 4  Nature  &  Art 

4  Melissa  &  Narcia 

1  Banished  Man — i  Desmond 

2  Fool  of  Quality 

2  Julia  de  Roubingre 

2  Man  of  Feeling 

2  Man  of  the  World 

2  Man  as  he  is 

2  Rasselas  &  Dinarbas 

2  Sorrows  of  Edith 

2  Arabian  Tales  Complete 

1  Eliosa 

2  Count  de  Saulene 
2  Sophia  Sternheim 
2  Fille  de  Chambre 

1  Lucinda  Courtney 

2  Natural  Daughter 

2  Vicar  of  Wakefield 

2  Madame  Ricobina's  Letters 

?  Nettley  Abbey 

2  Haunted  Priory 

2  Welch  Neices 

2  Agnes  de  Courci 

i  Ned  Evans 

1  The  Farmer  of  Englewood 

2  House  of  Junian 
i  Hugh  Nevor 


120 


APPENDIX  IV 

The  following  bill  not  only  indicates,  as  suggested  on  page 
fifty-three  what  German  books  were  making  their  way  to 
America  as  early  as  1816,  but  also  the  cost  of  the  current  litera 
ture,  and  the  difficulty  of  collecting  a  small  order  in  Germany. 
In  this  case  some  of  the  books  had  to  be  ordered  from  Weimar 
and  from  Leipsic. 

BOUGHT  FOR  MATTH  CAREY  BY  PROFESSOR  EBELING 
Hamburgh   May   1816. 

c         5 

^  —  « 

fc        S       •£ 

a    *   M 

6  German  Bibles  in  Folio  with  Plates.     Price  at  Lunenburg  96     14 

Freight  from  Lunenburg  i      12 
Perthes's  total                                                                                             ms     98     19 

Agnes  von  Lilien  7       8 

Babo  neue  Schauspiele  3 

Bertucks  Bilderbuch  fur  Kinder  Nr.  i  to  158  at  i  M  each  156 

Text  explaining  it.    Nr.  i  to  156  83 

Nr.  151  to  156  single  3       5 
Nr.  51  of  the  Text  wanting  is  already  ordered  from 
Weimar  and  expected  every  day. 

Burde   Erzahlungen  2       8 

Hagemeister  don  Juan  2 

Heinse  Laidion  3 

Herder's  Lieder  der  Liebe  i      12 

Hufelands  Matrobiobik  2  vols.  5       8 

Jing's  Heinr.   Stilling  5   vols.  17       8 

Klinger's  Faust's  Leben  5 

Lafontaine   Fedor   u.    Marie  4       8 

...........    Marchen,   Erzahlungen   2   vols  8 

.............    Leben  eines  armer  Landprediger     2  vol.  i  o       8 

Meiners's  Geschichte  der  Ursprung  der  Wissenschaften     2  vols         12 

.............  Historische  Vergleichung  der  Sitten  2  vols.  1  1       8 

(The  3rd  volume  is  expected  daily  from  the  Leipsic  fair.)     Ha. 

current  ms  336     13 

Milbillers  Elizabeth  6 

"         Komradin  4 

Kotzebues  Almanach  dramatischer  Spiele  the  newest  2  volumes  each     10 

Kotzebues  nissischer  Kreigsgefangener  3 

Crt.  mks.  359     *3 

10  p.   cent  36     13 

323 

6    Bibles  98     »o 


Hambr.    Current   mks     421     10 
121 


APPENDIX  V 

The  following  letters,  except  the  first,  which  is  interesting  in 
other  ways,  throw  some  light  upon  the  intellectual  activities  of 
Thomas  Jefferson  after  his  retirement  from  the  presidency. 

(To  Mathew  Carey)  WASHINGTON  Jan  I2th  1801 

Sir 

I  received  some  time  ago  your  favor  by  Doctor  Carey  together 
with  the  American  Monitor,  for  which  be  pleased  to  accept  my 
thanks — I  have  no  doubt  of  its  utility  as  a  school  Book,  as  soon 
as  the  pupil  is  so  far  advanced  as  to  reflect  on  what  he  reads, 
&  that  I  believe  is  in  an  earlier  stage  than  is  generally  imagined. 
I  concur  with  you  in  the  importance  of  inculcating  into  the 
minds  of  young  people  the  great  moral  &  political  truths  &  that 
it  is  better  to  put  into  their  hands  Books  which  while  they 
teach  them  to  Read  teach  them  to  think  also  &  to  think  soundly. 

I  am  with  great  esteem 
Your  most  obdt  serv 
TH  JEFFERSON 

Messrs  Careys 

Philadelphia. 
(Reed  July  2  Ans  July  5) 
MONTICELLO  June  28  (18)18 
Dear  Sir 

Soon  after  the  date  of  my  letter  of  the  2ist  I  received  Bridg- 
man's  Index  safely,  and  had  taken  for  granted  McMahon  was 
coming  with  it,  but  as  it  did  not  come,  I  presume  it  has  either 
been  forgotten  or  is  lodged  by  the  way.  in  either  case  I  ask 
your  information  &  attention  to  it;  and  further  that  you  will 
be  so  kind  as  to  inform  me  whether  a  copy  of  Baron  Grimm's 
memoirs  (16  vols  8vo)  can  be  had,  and  at  what  price?  I 
salute  you  with  friendship  and  respect 

TH.  JEFFERSON 
Mr.  M.  Carey. 

The  "letter  of  the  2ist"  was  not  found. 

MONTICELLO  Oct.  6.  (18)18. 
Dear  Sir 

Your  letter  of  Sep.  21  reached  me  on  the  28,  and  the  book 
which  is  the  subject  of  it  had  come  to  hand  by  the  preceding 

122 


123 

mail,  both  found  me  recovering  from  a  long  indisposition, 
and  not  yet  able  to  sit  up  to  write,  but  in  pain.  The  reading 
a  4to  volume  of  close  print  is  an  undertaking  which  my  ordi 
nary  occupations  and  habits  of  life  would  not  permit  me  to 
encounter;  nor  under  any  circumstances  could  I  arrogate  to 
myself  the  office  of  directing  or  anticipating  the  public  judg 
ment  as  to  the  publications  worthy  of  their  attention,  letters 
of  mine,  unwarily  written,  have  been  sometimes  used  by  editors 
with  that  view,  but  not  with  my  consent,  but  in  one  or  two  par 
ticular  cases,  if  the  vol.  of  Haines's  you  sent  me  be  your  only 
copy,  I  will  return  it  to  you.  if  you  have  another,  I  would 
willingly  keep  it,  and  be  glad  to  receive  the  2nd  when  it  comes 
out.  I  shall  be  glad  if  you  can  send  me  by  mail  the  2  books 
undermentioned,  and  would  rather  receive  them  unbound.  I 
see  them  advertised  by  Wells  &  Lilly  of  Boston.  I  salute  you 
with  sincere  esteem  and  respect. 

Griesbach :  Greek  testament,  the  8vo  and  full  edition. 

The  New  Testament  in  an  improved  version  on  the  basis  of 
Newcome's  translation. 

free  Th  Jefferson  Free 

MR.  MATTHEW  CAREY 

Philadelphia 

Dear  Sir  MONTICELLO  Nov.  28,  (18)18. 

Reed.  Dec.  4) 
Ans.  Dec.  7 

In  a  letter  of  Oct.  6  I  requested  the  favor  of  you  to  send  me 
Griesbach's  Greek  testament,  the  8vo  &  full  edition,  and  The 
New  testament  in  an  improved  version  on  the  basis  of  New- 
come's  translation  which,  altho  published  in  Boston,  I  supposed 
could  be  had  in  Philadelphia. — hearing  nothing  of  them  I  con 
jecture  they  are  either  forgotten  or  not  to  be  had  in  Philadel 
phia.  I  would  rather  have  them  unbound,  and  they  may  come 
by  mail  if  to  be  had.  I  salute  you  with  friendship  &  respect. 

TH.  JEFFERSON 
Mr.  Carey 

(To  Mathew  Carey) 

Dear  Sir  MONTICELLO  July  31,  (18)20 

Your  favor  of  July  13.  was  received  on  the  2ist  inst.  and  I 
now  enclose  you  25.0.  in  bills  of  the  bank  of  Virginia  as  none 
of  the  U.S.  are  to  be  had  here,  the  surplus  of  1.75  may  cover 
the  discount  perhaps. 

I  presume  you  import  from  time  to  time  books  from  England, 
and  should  be  glad  if  on  the  first  occasion  you  would  write 
for  a  copy  of  Baxter's  history  of  England  for  me.  and  if  there 


124 

be  an  8vo  edn  of  it,  I  should  greatly  prefer  it.  If  none,  I  must 
be  contented  with  the  original  4to.  I  doubt  whether  it  went 
to  a  2nd  edition,  even  the  Whigs  of  England  not  bearing  to 
see  their  bible,  Hume,  republicanized.  octavo  volumes  suit  my 
hand,  and  my  shelves  so  much  better  than  any  other  size,  that 
if  the  Conversations  in  chemistry,  mentioned  below  can  be  had 
from  England  in  8vo  I  would  rather  wait  for  their  importation, 
if  not  I  would  prefer  the  English  edition  12  mo  that  of  Hum 
phrey's.  If  J.  Sinclair's  book  is  not  to  be  had  with  you  it 
might  be  added  to  the  importation.  I  salute  you  with  great 
friendship  &  respect. 

TH.  JEFFERSON 

Baxter's  History  of  England. 

Conversations  in  Chemistry. 

Sr.  John  Sinclairs  Code  of  agriculture,  this  is  the  work 
which  is  in  a  single  vol.  thick  8vo  and  must  be  distinguished 
from  a  similar  work  in  several  volumes  published  some  years 
ago  and  of  which  there  is  a  condensed  digest. 

Mess.  M.  Carey  &  son  MONTICELLO  Aug.  14,  (18)20. 

(Reed  Aug.  20) 

I  received  yesterday  your  favor  of  the  5th,  and  by  the  pre 
ceding  mail  the  Conversations  in  Chemistry  had  come  to  hand. 
I  am  quite  content  with  the  edition,  as  I  shall  be  with  the 
American  edition  of  Sr.  J.  Sinclair's  Code  of  agriculture.  I 
had  not  before  known  that  it  had  been  reprinted  in  America.  I 
wish  that  there  may  have  been  an  8vo  edition  of  Baxter's  his 
tory  of  England  published  there,  if  not  I  must  be  content  with 
the  4to.  order  it  to  be  well  bound  if  you  please,  as  I  am 
attached  to  good  bindings.  I  salute  you  with  esteem  &  respect. 

TH.  JEFFERSON. 


APPENDIX  VI 

BALTIMORE  26,  Feb.  1822. 

MESSRS.  H.  C.  CAREY  &  I.  LEA 
Gentlemen, 

I  intimated  to  you  some  time  ago  that,  when  Logan,  with 
which  I  had  been  in  travail  for  an  unprecedented  time,  consid 
ering  my  earlier  habits  of  gestation,  was  fairly  launched,  I  had 
a  plan  in  view  which  I  thought  might  be  made  profitable  and 
honourable,  to  you,  and  myself — that  plan  is  now  mentioned. 
I  have  nearly  completed  a  series  of  novels — in  secrecy  and  dark 
ness,  while  most  of  the  good  people  of  this  world,  particularly 
the  watchmen,  were  asleep — .  The  first  you  have — the  second 
and  third  are  finished  and  the  fourth,  will  be,  within  a  month — 
I  believe.  This  has  been  no  common  effort — I  have  bent  all 
my  power  and  faculties  to  the  labour — (one  line  rendered  illeg 
ible  by  the  fold  in  the  letter)  ...  of  my  own  reputation  be 
cause  I  do  not  mean  to  be  known  in  them — but  willing  while  I 
could,  to  contribute,  — ,  do  not  call  me  vain  I  have  thought  on 
what  I  say,  and  I  do  not  lightly  say  it — to  the  reputation  of  my 
country. 

The  whole  are  materially  American — the  second  entirely  new 
in  the  design  and  execution — containing  notices  &  speeches  of 
our  eminent  men — actually  living — native  scenery,  habits,  etc., 
the  third  a  tale,  in  which  I  have  striven  hard  to  counteract  some 
prejudices  natural  to  the  mind  repety  deformed  and  dwarfish 
gentry  manners  life — etc — and  the  fourth,  which  is  the  last  that 
I  have  written,  or  shall  write,  I  verily  believe,  for  neither 
health,  duty  nor  profession  will  permit  me  to  continue  the 
labour,  is  a  tale  utterly  woven  abt  the  events  of  our  Revolution 
artfully  narrated — and  with  all  the  passion  of  my  nature — 

In  the  first  place  I  can  assure  you  that  no  mortal  living  knows 
of  the  matter  thus  far — :  and  I  am  determined  that  no  one 
shall,  if  I  can  help  it,  whose  interest  is  not  as  well  as  mine,  to 
keep  the  secret.  I  do  not  mean  to  acknowledge  them  but  I 
know  well  that  I  shall  be  suspected,  for  I  have  been  assailed, 
recently,  from  several  quarters,  and  even  from  our  bench,  with 
entreaty  and  persuasion  to  write  a  novel  a  poem — .  — 

Much  of  the  value  of  the  books  will,  of  course,  depend  upon 
this  secrecy,  after  the  public  are  excited.  Logan,  I  do  not 
expect  will  startle  them  much, — (Waverly  did  not)  but  it  will 
put  them  into  a  state  of  preparation — against  the  second  shock, 

125 


126 

which  I  promise  you,  shall  charge  them,  brim  full  of  electric 
ity! — the  third  will  reduce  their  temperature — help  to  make 
Logan  more  valuable — and  prepare  the  way  for  the  last  upon 
which  I  have  deliberately  thrown  out  every  power  of  my  heart 
and  brain.  .  .  . 

It  will  take  some  time  you  know,  for  the  first  novel  of  an 
unknown  writer  to  make  its  way  where  it  will  be  read — but  let 
it  be  read,  and  I  shall  not  tremble  for  its  fate — nay — I  shall  not 
tremble — after  a  little  time — at  any  comparison;  but  I  am  im 
patient — I  cannot  wait  for  the  gradual  accretion  of  such  profit 
— and  therefor  I  would  have  you  come  down  upon  them  (the 
publick)  clap  apb  clap,  before  they  can  get  their  breath.  They 
are  startled  at  the  celebriety  of  the  Scotch  novelist — Let  us 
appal  them — if  we  can!  .  .  . 

Yours  truly 
JOHN  NEAL 


APPENDIX  VII 

The  following  letter  strikingly  exemplifies  the  well  known 
popularity  of  Webster's  Grammatical  Institute,  first  published 
from  1783  to  1785,  and  the  condition  and  code  of  ethics  of  the 
publishing  trade  in  1791. 

(To  Mathew  Carey  &  Co.) 

HARTFORD  Aug  I4th  1791 
Gentlemen 

In  answer  to  yours  of  the  nth  current,  I  give  you  the  state 
of  facts — That  under  the  laws  of  the  U.  States,  there  can  be 
no  restriction  of  the  sale  of  any  book  by  law.  A  man  who  can 
print  the  books,  recorded  under  that  law,  can  sell  them  in  any 
part  of  the  U.  States.  The  contrary  would  be  very  absurd. 
But  this  is  no  disadvantage  to  a  purchaser  of  my  books,  for 
the  right  extends  to  one  as  well  as  to  another.  If  you  pur 
chase  the  exclusive  right  of  printing  in  a  certain  number  of 
states,  your  sales  are  not  by  law  confined  to  those  states ;  &  if 
Mr.  Thomas  in  Massachusetts  can  send  the  books  to  Philadel 
phia,  you  can  send  as  many  as  you  please  to  Mass — .  It  is 
therefore  agreed  by  Messrs  Hudson  &  Goodwin  &  Mess  Thomas 
&  Anderson  that  they  will  not  interfere  with  each  others  sales ; 
and  I  have  no  doubt  they  and  the  proprietors  in  Vermont  would 
cheerfully  sign  a  writing  to  that  effect.  The  proprietors  have 
no  difference  with  each  other  &  no  clashing.  Indeed  it  is  with 
difficulty  that  some  of  them  supply  the  demand  at  their  own 
stores. 

By  "West  of  the  Hudson"  I  mean  to  comprehend  all  the 
southern  &  western  states ;  &  it  is  probable  that  before  the  expi 
ration  of  13  years,  the  sale  will  be  considerably  extended  to  the 
westward  of  the  Allgany.  My  reason  for  limiting  your  sales 
by  the  Hudson  is  this ;  the  City  of  New  York  is  a  large  com 
mercial  town  &  traders  from  great  part  of  New  England  go 
there  for  goods.  By  this  means  New  York  supplies  my  books 
for  a  great  extent  of  territory,  &  when  Mr.  Campbells  term 
expires,  which  will  be  the  May  after  next,  the  right  returns  to 
me.  The  right  of  supplying  that  city  I  should  not  sell  for  less 
than  looo  dollars  in  hand,  or  150  dollars  annually  for  the  re 
maining  eleven  years.  If  you  were  disposed  to  purchase  that 
right,  &  either  supply  the  market  yourselves  or  sell  to  a  printer 

127 


128 

in  New  York,  I  do  not  know  that  I  should  have  any  objections. 
But  the  price  I  set  you  is  low,  even  for  the  right  west  of  the 
Hudson ;  for  I  find  the  sales  are  larger  than  I  apprehended. 
In  short,  gentlemen,  my  intention  is  that  the  purchaser  in  Phila 
delphia  should  supply  the  'whole  market  west  &  south  of  New 
Jersey — &  also  in  New  Jersey,  so  far  as  will  suit  the  commer 
cial  interest  of  the  people.  Purchasers  bordering  on  the  Hud 
son  will  get  books  in  New  York — those  on  the  Delaware  will 
furnish  themselves  in  Philad.  But  you  will  be  under  no  restric 
tion  as  to  sales  west  of  the  Hudson.  On  the  other  hand,  if  I 
should,  after  Campbells  term,  supply  New  York  myself,  I  will 
bind  myself  to  restrict  my  sales  to  that  city  and  the  eastward ; 
and  the  other  proprietors  are  restrained  by  agreement  as  well 
as  by  the  inconvenience  of  sending  books  abroad.  Neither 
Hudson  &  Goodwin  nor  Thomas  &  Andrews  have,  I  believe, 
ever  sent  a  book  westward  of  the  Hudson,  &  yet  they  are  re 
strained  only  by  their  honor  &  convenience. 

I  would  further  inform  you  th  all  the  proprietors  have  agreed, 
&  a  clause  is  inserted  in  every  contract  except  that  of  Hudson 
&  Goodwin,  which  was  made  long  before  the  United  States  law 
was  passed,  binding  them  to  adhere  to  some  uniform  prices  in 
the  sales  of  the  books,  whenever  three  fourths  of  the  proprie 
tors  shall  agree  upon  the  prices — at  least  that  they  will  not  sell 
below  the  price  agreed  upon. 

There  has  been  a  controversy  between  Mr.  Young,  Mr. 
Campbell  Mr  Patten  &  Messrs  Hudson  &  Goodwin ;  &  much 
injury  has  accrued  to  them  all — But  it  has  subsided,  &  the 
measures  I  am  now  taking  will  prevent  the  possibility  of  the 
like  in  future.  This  is  my  motive  for  a  change  in  proprietors. 
All  the  present  proprietors  except  Mr.  Campbell,  whose  right 
will  soon  end,  are  men  who  will  not  injure  the  business  by 
underselling  one  another.  If  you  should  purchase  there  will  be 
seven  proprietors ;  so  situated  as  to  furnish  every  part  of  the  U. 
States  without  interfering  with  each  other  &  all  men  of  repu 
tation  &  honor.  And  if  it  should  be  the  wish  of  any  one  to 
form  a  mutual  agreement  by  writing,  both  as  to  the  extent  of 
their  sales  respectively  &  the  prices,  I  think  I  can  answer  for 
the  whole,  that  such  an  agreement  will  be  readily  formed. 

I  could  wish  for  your  determination  soon,  as  I  am  informed 
that  one  part  of  the  Institute  is  out  of  print  in  Philad  &  an 
impression  wanted. 

I  am,  Gentlemen,  with  esteem 
Your  obedi  hum  Servant, 

NOAH  WEBSTER  JUN. 


APPENDIX  VIII 

The  intense  competition  for  first  copies  of  British  novels  is 
clearly  shown  in  the  two  following  letters.  Primarily  how- 
every  they  are  here  quoted  to  show  what  seem  to  have  been  the 
doubtful  business  methods  of  the  Edinburgh  firm,  as  inti 
mated  in  the  text  at  page  87. 

(ToM.  Carey  &  Sons) 

Reed.  Nov.  10,  (1822) 
Gentlemen, 

Since  I  last  wrote  to  you  I  have  concluded  a  bargain  with 
Messrs  Constable  &  Co.  for  Peveril  of  the  Peak — one  copy  of 
the  first  volume  of  which,  comes  with  this  by  the  ship  "  Robert 
Edwards  "  the  second  volume  will  shortly  follow,  &  fragments 
of  the  third  as  it  is  printed.  I  shall  send  another  copy  of  volume 
I  by  the  New  York,  which  leaves  Liverpool  on  the  ist  Octr. — 
putting  it  under  the  especial  care  of  my  friend  Mr.  Isaac  Judly 
— a  third,  copy  of  volume  ist  will  be  sent  by  some  other  ship 
&  I  shall  let  you  have  three  copies  of  each  of  the  volumes  by 
different  ships.  I  have  engaged  to  pay  twenty  five  pounds  per 
volume — in  all  £75. — Nothing  has  yet  reached  me  from  Gibral 
tar,  &  judging  from  the  tardiness  of  your  correspondent  there, 
it  may  probably  be  delayed  for  some  months.  I  could  not  make 
a  better  bargain  with  Constable  &  Co. — they  would  not  give 
way  in  the  slightest  degree — they  have  engaged  to  let  me  have 
the  last  sheets,  at  least  14  days  before  they  publish  in  Edin 
burgh,  which  will  secure  you  from  all  danger  of  disappoint 
ment.  .  .  .  (He  speaks  of  the  "Atlas"  which  is  coming.) 

JOHN  MILLER 
Fleet  Street 

Sept.  24-  1822. 

(From  M.  Carey  &  Sons) 

MR.  JOHN  MILLER  Jan.  3ist  (1823). 

Your  favours  of  2Oth  &  3<Dth  Novr.  arrived  yesterday  with 
part  of  Peveril  Vol.  3.  The  first  of  Vol  2  arrived  a  short  time 
since  per  James  Monroe  but  duplicate  and  trip:  have  not  yet 
come  nor  have  any  of  the  Copies  of  Lord  Byrons  Tragedy 
arrived.  .  .  . 

We  think  the  demands  of  Messrs.  Constables  as  improper 
10  129 


130 

as  any  we  have  known.  They  engaged  to  furnish  the  book  at 
^75  and  it  is  a  matter  of  no  importance  to  us  whether  it  is  in 
3  or  4  Vols.  These  books  have  always  been  pubd.  in  2  Vols. 
here  at  $1.75  or  $2  and  those  of  4  Vols.  are  always  less  profit 
able  than  those  in  3,  as  they  cannot  be  raised  in  proportion  to 
the  additional  matter.  We  hope,  however,  you  have  made 
some  arrangements  with  them;  as  it  wd  be  in  the  highest  de 
gree  vexatious  to  us  to  be  delayed.  The  whole  is  printed  as 
far  as  reed — except  that  which  came  yesterday,  and  can  have 
it  out  in  24  hours  from  the  time  the  last  part  is  reed.  Still  if 
a  complete  copy  arrived  in  N.  York  with  ours,  they  could  print 
it  in  the  time  it  requires  our  copy  to  come  here  and  go  back. 
We  shd  be  glad  to  have  all  those  books  in  future,  but  wd  wish 
to  have  them  at  as  moderate  price  as  possible,  for  the  only 
advantage  we  derive  from  the  purchase  is  the  sale  of  3  or  4 
days  until  another  Edit,  can  be  printed  in  New  York,  Boston 
and  here. 

This  takes  place  in  about  3  days  from  the  time  of  publishing 
our  Edition  or  the  receipt  of  an  English  copy  shd  that  take 
place  before  the  publication  of  our's  as  has  several  times  hap 
pened.  All  the  advantage  consists  in  having  the  whole  copy 
a  few  days  before  others,  in  order  that  we  may  send  our  Edi 
tion  off  in  every  direction  and  receive  the  first  sales.  They 
ought  to  be  able  to  give  it  20  or  30  days  before  publication  as 
proofs  of  the  last  3  or  4  half  sheets  wd  answer  as  well  as  the 
best  impressions  and  should  there  be  errors  we  will  take  our 
chances  for  correcting  them  ourselves  as  we  have  repeatedly 
done  with  the  former  Books.  The  time  required  for  correc 
tion,  press  work,  etc  etc,  must  be  very  considerable  for  so  large 
an  Edit:  and  they  have  afterwards  to  send  it  to  London  so 
that  20  or  30  days  must  certainly  elapse  after  they  could  give 
proofs  of  the  last  form  before  publication.  The  conduct  of 
Messrs  Constables  appears  to  us  very  extraordinary.  They 
wrote  us1  saying  that  the  first  copies  of  the  Waverley  Novels 
had  been  stolen  from  their  office  and  charging  us  with  having 
employed  a  person  for  the  purpose,  offering  at  the  same  time 
to  sell  us  the  copies  in  the  future.  We  shewed  the  letters  to 
Mr.  Wardle,  who  had  reed  them  from  Hurst  Robinson  &  Co. 
and  sold  them  to  us.  He  went  to  London  and  obtained  from 
Messrs  Constable  &  Co.  a  certificate  that  the  sheets  had  been 

1 1  have  been  unable  to  find  the  letter  from  Constable  and  Company 
referred  to  by  Carey.  Do  these  letters,  revealing  as  they  do  the  business 
melhods  of  the  Edinburgh  firm,  throw  any  light  upon  the  Scott-Constable 
controversy?  A  review  of  the  insufficent  literature  on  the  subject  now  at 
hand  leads  to  no  definite  conclusion. 


131 

furnished  by  their  direction.  There  appears  no  little  dis 
crepancy  between  their  statements  at  different  times  and  we 
think  it  very  shabby  of  them  now  to  demand  an  additional  sum 
for  Vol.  4  after  an  express  agreement  for  a  Copy  of  the  work. 
At  all  events  we  hope  you  will  not  fail  to  get  the  vol  in  due 
time  and  let  us  have  it.  We  do  not  believe  there  will  be  any 
competition  for  it  at  £75,  as  we  feel  satisfied  no  other  person 
wd  give  so  much  for  it  for  so  short  a  time  as  we  can  have  the 
market  to  ourselves.  Let  us  know  as  early  as  you  can  what 
will  be  the  next  work  and  secure  it  on  the  best  terms  you  can. 
Longman  &  Company  have  not  sent  Moores  poem*  to  Mr. 
Wardle.  They  act  curiously  with  regard  to  it  we  hope  a  copy 
will  arrive  to  us  in  good  time  as  it  is  not  worth  publishing 
if  any  other  person  receives  a  copy.  Capt.  Brenton's  Letter 
has  not  arrived  but  from  what  you  say  we  do  not  think  the 
work  wd  answer.  We  have  seen  enough  of  the  Prejudice  and 
Nationality  of  your  Countrymen  in  James's3  Books  and  in  the 
retailing  of  his  stories  in  the  Quarterly.  As  soon  as  we  re 
ceive  his  letters  we  will  answer  fully. 

2  Thomas  Moore's  Loves  of  the  Angels  is  probably  the  poem  referred  to. 

*  This  was,  in  all  probability,  William  James,  a  writer  on  naval  history, 
who  died  in  1827.  From  1812  to  1813,  he  was  a  prisoner  of  war  in  the 
United  States.  In  1816,  he  published  An  Inquiry  into  the  Merits  of  the 
Principal  Naval  Actions  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  in 
which  his  theme  was  that  the  naval  victories  of  the  Americans  were  due 
alone  to  superiority  of  numbers.  This  pamphlet  aroused  strong  feeling  in 
America,  as  evinced,  for  instance,  in  a  mild  form,  here  in  this  letter.  The 
most  important  work  of  James  was  The  Naval  History  of  Great  Britain, 
from  th?  Declaration  of  War  by  France  in  1793  to  the  Accession  of  George 
IV,  which  was  issued  in  five  volumes  from  1822  to  1824.  It  appears  that 
an  attempt  to  have  it  published  in  the  United  States  drew  forth  the  above 
remarks. 


APPENDIX   IX 

Some  slight  idea  of  the  interest  of  Dickens  in  things  Amer 
ican  as  well  as  his  change  of  attitude  towards  American  pub 
lishers  is  given  in  the  following  letters. 

48  DOUGHTY  STREET,  LONDON 

i8th  July  1838 
Gentlemen 

I  take  the  opportunity  of  my  friend,  Mr.  Thompson,  leaving 
England  on  a  voyage  of  discovery  to  the  New  World,  to  thank 
you  most  cordially  for  your  box  of  books,  and  also  for  your 
acknowledgment  of  the  popularity  of  the  Pickwick  Papers  in 
America,  which  (both  the  acknowledgment  and  the  popularity, 
and  especially  the  last)  affords  me  the  greatest  delight  and 
satisfaction. 

I  have  neyer  seen  your  agent,  Mr.  Miller  upon  the  subject 
of  Nicholas  Nickleby,  but  if  I  had  I  should  have  been  unable 
to  have  sent  you  early  proofs  of  any  number  that  has  yet 
appeared  as  I  have  been  rather  behind  hand  than  in  advance 
and  have  only  completed  each  number  a  day  or  two  before  its 
publication. 

I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  that  Nicholas  is  in  favor  with  our 
American  friends  (whom  I  long  to  see)  and  if  you  can  point 
out  to  me  any  means  by  which,  either  in  this  case  or  in  any 
other,  I  can  give  you  a  preference  or  serve  your  interests, 
believe  me  that  I  shall  be  most  willing  and  prompt  to  do  so. 

I  am 
Gentlemen 

Faithfully  yours 

CHARLES  DICKENS 
Mess.  Carey,  Lea  &  Blanchard 

i  DEVONSHIRE  TERRACE 
YORK  GATE,  REGENTS  PARK, 
Tuesday,  November  Twenty  third,  1841. 
Dear  Sirs: 

I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  your  welcome  letter  of 
the  Thirtieth  of  last  month  and  thank  you  cordially  for  its 
obliging  tenor. 

I  shall  be  only  six  months  in  America  altogether ;  and  my 
present  purpose  is  to  land  at  Boston;  go  from  thence  to  New 

132 


133 

York  and  thence  into  the  South.  Of  course  I  shall  visit  Phila 
delphia  at  some  time  or  other  in  the  half  year ;  and  when  I  do, 
I  shall  not  fail  to  see  you  immediately.  It  is  scarcely  possible 
until  one  is  on  your  side  of  the  Atlantic  to  be  at  all  certain 
as  to  dates  and  seasons  but  as  soon  as  I  arrive  and  have  shaped 
my  course  minutely,  I  will  write  to  you  again. 

In  the  meanwhile,  accept  my  thanks  for  your  polite  atten 
tion  and  the  assurance  that  I  am 

Dear  Sirs 

Faithfully  yours 

CHARLES  DICKENS 
Mess.  Lea  &  Blanchard 

CARLTON  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK. 

Thirteenth  February,  1842. 
My  Dear  Sirs: 

I  am  cordially  obliged  to  you  for  your  thoughtful  recollec 
tion  and  for  the  box  of  books.    Accept  my  very  best  thanks. 
I  shall  be  exceedingly  glad  to  know  you  and  shake  hands 
with  you  when  I  come  to  Philadelphia,  where  I  shall  be,  I 
hope  (though  for  a  very  few  days)  in  a  fortnight  at  furthest. 
I  shall  be  glad  to  have  too — of  course  between  ourselves — 
some  information  on  a  business  point  which  occurs  to  my  mind 
just  now. 

The  intelligence  of  the  long  faces  had  reached  my  ears  be 
fore  I  received  your  letter.  I  am  truly  sorry  for  the  cause  of 
their  elongation  and  wish  them  short  again  with  all  my  heart. 

Dear  Sirs 

Always  Faithfully  yours 

CHARLES  DICKENS 
Mess.  Lea  &  Blanchard 

NIAGARA  FALLS. 

Thirteenth  April  1842 
My  Dear  Sirs: 

Availing  myself  of  your  kind  offers  of  service,  I  am  going 
to  trouble  you  with  a  few  troublesome  commissions.  If  you 
will  execute  them  for  me  between  this  time  and  the  end  of  May 
and  will  send  me  to  New  York  at  the  same  time  a  note  of 
the  amount  you  have  expended  for  me  in  so  doing,  you  will 
very  much  oblige  me. 

1st.  Can  you  get  me  a  good  copy  of  a  Book  called  "  History 
of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,  with  biographical 
Sketches  and  Anecdotes  of  the  Principal  chiefs  etc.  120  Por 
traits.  By  Thomas  L.  McKenney  and  James  Hall.  Published 


134 

in  Philadelphia  by  C.  Biddle?    If  it  is  not  very  expensive  and 
easily  obtained,  I  should  like  two  copies. 

2nd.  Will  you  send  me  one  complete  set  of  my  books? 

3rdly.  Did  you  republish  an  English  Book  called  "  Lives  of 
the  Statesmen  of  the  Commonwealth."  By  John  Forster  of 
the  Middle  Temple,  London?  If  so,  will  you  send  me  a  copy? 

4thly.  Will  you  send  me  any  and  every  edition  of  Mr.  Tal- 
fourd's  Tragedy  of  "  Ion "  that  you  can  possibly  lay  your 
hands  on  ? 

There — that's  modest.     I  have  quite  done. 

Faithfully  yours  always 

CHARLES  DICKENS 
Mess.  Lea  &  Blanchard 

CARLTON  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK. 
Second  of  June,  1842. 
My  Dear  Sirs: 

I  thank  you  very  sincerely  for  your  kind  letter  and  your 
handsome  Present  of  Books.  I  shall  carry  them  all  home  and 
put  them  beside  your  other  contributions  to  my  shelves. 

My  inclination  would  lead  me  with  a  silken  cord  to  Phila 
delphia.  But  I  am  weary  of  travelling,  and  am  going  to  lie  in 
the  shade  of  some  Trees  on  the  bank  of  the  North  river  until 
Tuesday  comes — that  bright  day  in  my  calendar  when  I  turn 
toward  Home  and  England. 

Good  bye. 

Always  believe  me 
Faithfully  your  friend, 

CHARLES  DICKENS 
Messrs.  Lea  &  Blanchard 

i  DEVONSHIRE  TERRACE,  YORK  GATE,  REGENTS  PARK 

Twenty  eighth  December  1842. 
Dear  Sirs: 

Rest  assured  that  if  any  personal  or  private  feeling  were 
intermixed  with  the  resolution  at  which  I  arrived  when  I  came 
home  in  reference  to  American  republications  of  my  books, 
it  would  have  great  weight  in  your  favor.  I  formed  it  on 
principle.  Disgusted  with  the  infamous  state  of  the  Law  in 
respect  of  copyright,  and  confirmed  in  the  opinion  I  have 
always  held  that  there  is  no  reasonable  ray  of  hope  of  its 
being  changed  for  many  years  to  come,  I  determined  that  so 
far  as  I  was  concerned  the  American  people  should  have  the 
full  pride,  honor,  glory  and  profit  of  it;  that  I  would  be  no 
party  to  its  invasion ;  and  that  I  would  have  nothing  blown  to 


135 

me  by  a  side  wind,  which  the  dishonest  breath  of  the  popular 
legislature  with-held. 

I  hope  that  the  more  you  see  of  this  plunder  and  the  dirty 
hands  into  which  it  goes,  the  more  you  will  feel  and  advocate 
the  necessity  of  a  change. 

Always  believe  me 
Faithfully  yours 
CHARLES  DICKENS 
Mess.  Lea  &  Blanchard 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

A  fairly  complete  bibliography  of  Mathevv  Carey  can  be 
found  in  J.  Sabin's  Bibliotheca  Americana.  The  works  listed 
below  have  been  of  service,  but  by  far  the  most  valuable 
material  in  the  production  of  this  monograph  was  the  business 
documents  of  Mathevv  Carey  and  of  the  publishing  firms  which 
succeeded  him.  These  records  are  not  accessible  to  the  public ; 
and  no  bibliography  of  them  could  be  formed  if  they  were. 
It  seems  unnecessary  to  refer  to  the  most  obvious  works  of 
reference  on  American  literature,  such  as  The  National 
Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography,  Appleton's  Cyclopedia, 
Lamb's  Biographical  Dictionary,  etc.,  etc. 

x   American  Book  Circular.     Ed.  and  published  by  Wiley  &  Put 
nam,  New  York,  April,  1843. 

^  American  Bookseller.     Vol.  XVII,  No.  3.     New  York,  Feb. 
i,  1885. 

Appleton,  William  H.,  Letters  on  International  Copyright. 
New  York,  1872.  (Pamphlet,  pp.  24.) 

Baird,  Henry  Carey,  Copyright,  National  and  International,  An 
Address.  Philadelphia,  1884.  (Pamphlet,  pp.  7.) 

Bowker,  R.  R.,  Copyright,  Its  Law  and  Its  Literature.  With 
a  Bibliography  of  Literary  Property.  By  Thorvald  Sol- 
berg.  New  York,  1886. 

Bryant,  William  Cullen,  Address  to  the  People  of  the  United 
States  in  behalf  of  the  American  Copyright  Club,  Adopted 
at  New  York,  October  18,  1843.  New  York,  1843.  This 
pamphlet  of  eighteen  pages  is  signed  by  Francis  L.  Hawks 
and  Cornelius  Matthews  also. 

Bryant,  William  Cullen,  Poetical  Works.     New  York,  1908. 

Carey,  Mathew,  Autobiographical  Sketches,  in  a  Scries  of 
Letters  Addressed  to  a  Friend.  Philadelphia,  1829.  (A 
Reprint  of  this  is  listed  again  under  New  England 
Magazine.) 

|M 


137 

Carey,  Mathew,  The  Crisis,  An  Appeal  to  the  good  sense  of 
the  nation,  against  the  spirit  of  resistance  and  dissolution 
of  the  Union.  Philadelphia,  1832. 

Carey,  Mathew,  Essays  on  Political  Economy;  Or  the  Most 
Certain  Means  of  Promoting  the  Wealth,  Power,  Re 
sources,  and  Happiness  of  Nations.  Philadelphia,  1822. 

Carey,  Mathew,  Letters  on  Religious  Persecution,  Proving 
that  the  most  Heinous  of  Crimes,  has  not  been  peculiar 
to  Roman  Catholics.  Fourth  Edition,  Philadelphia,  1829. 

Carey,  Mathew.     Miscellaneous  Essays.     Philadelphia,   1830. 

Carey,  Mathew,  The  New  Olive  Branch:  Or,  An  Attempt  to 
Establish  an  Identity  of  Interest  between  Agriculture, 
Manufactures,  and  Commerce.  Philadelphia,  1820. 

Carey,  Mathew,  The  Olive  Branch:  Or,  Faults  on  both  Sides, 
Federal  and  Democratic.  A  Serious  Appeal  to  the 
Necessity  of  Mutual  Forgiveness  and  Harmony.  Sixth 
Edition,  Philadelphia,  1815. 

Carey,  Mathew,  Vindiciae  Hibernicae:  Or  Ireland  Vindicated. 
Philadelphia,  1819. 

Congressional  Record.     Vol.  XIX.  Washington,  1888. 

Derby,  J.  C,  Fifty  Years  among  Authors,  Books  and  Pub 
lishers.  New  York,  1884. 

Drone,  Eaton  S.,  A  Treatise  on  the  Law  of  Property  in  In 
tellectual  Productions  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States.  Boston,  1879. 

Dunlap,  William,  A  History  of  the  American  Theater.  New 
York,  1832. 

Ford,  Paul  Lester,  The  Writings  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  New 
York  &  London,  1899. 

Garnett,  Richard,  "  Early  Spanish-American  Printing,"  in  The 
Library,  Vol.  I.,  London,  1900. 

Goddard,  Harold  Clarke,  Studies  in  New  England  Trans 
cendentalism.  New  York,  1908. 

Green,  Samuel  A.,  Ten  fac-simile  reproductions  relating  to 
New  England.  Boston,  1902. 

Growoll,  A.,  Book-Trade  Bibliography  in  the  United  States  in 
the  XIX  Century.  New  York,  1898. 

Harrison,  James  A.,  The  Complete  Works  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe. 
New  York,  1902. 


138 

Hildeburn,  Charles  R.,  Issues  of  the  Press  in  Pennsylvania, 

1685-1784.     Philadelphia,  1887. 
Houghton,  Henry  O.,  Early  Printing  in  America.     Montpelier, 

1894. 
Jackson,  M.  Katherine,  Outlines  of  the  Literary  History  of 

Colonial  Pennsylvania.     Lancaster,  1906. 
L'Estrange,  Rev.  A.  G.  K.,  The  Life  of  Mary  Russel  Mitford. 

New  York,  1870. 
Loliee,  Frederic.     A  Short  History  of  Comparative  Literature. 

London,  1906. 
Loshe,  Lillie  Deming,  The  Early  American  Novel.    New  York, 

1907. 
Lounsbury,   Thomas   R.,  James  Fenimore  Cooper.     Boston, 

1883. 
McMaster,  John  Bach.     A  History  of  the  People  of  the  United 

States.     New  York,  1900. 
New  England  Magazine,  The.     Volumes  5,  6,  and  7. .  Boston, 

1833-4. 

Notth  American  Review,  The.    Volume  55.    New  York,  1842. 

Oberholzer,  Ellis  Paxton,  The  Literary  History  of  Philadel 
phia.  Philadelphia,  1906. 

Oliver,  Grace  A.,  A  Study  of  Maria  Edgeworth.    Boston,  1882. 

Port  Folio,  The.     Volume  7.     Philadelphia,  1811. 

Putnam,  George  Haven,  The  Question  of  the  Copyright.  New 
York,  1891.  (This  is  a  series  of  articles  by  R.  R.  Bowker, 
Brander  Matthews,  G.  H.  Putnam,  W.  E.  Simonds,  Sir 
James  Stephen,  and  Walter  Besant,  with  extracts  from 
speeches  delivered  in  the  Senate  in  1891,  etc.,  compiled  by 
George  Haven  Putnam.  Reference  might  also  be  made  to 
A  Memoir  of  George  Palmer  Putnam  Together  with  a 
Record  of  the  Publishing  House  founded  by  Him.  By 
George  Haven  Putnam.  Two  volumes.  New  York,  1903. 
This  work  is,  however,  of  no  particular  value  for  our  im 
mediate  purpose. 

Rivington,  Charles  Robert,  "  Notes  on  the  Stationers'  Com 
pany,"  in  The  Library.  Vol.  IV.  London,  1903. 

Scudder,  Horace  E.,  Noah  Webster,  Boston,  1882. 

Senate  Reports.    Vol.  7.    Washington,  1886. 


139 

Smith,  R.  Pearsall,  Anglo-American  Copyright,  Extracted  from 
The  Nineteenth  Century,  No.  129,  November,  1887.  This 
is  a  reprint  in  pamphlet  form,  with  comments  by  Glad 
stone,  Lord  Tennyson,  Rider  Haggard,  Justin  McCarthy, 
Walter  Besant,  Matthew  Arnold,  Huxley  and  others. 

Smyth,  A.  H.,  The  Philadelphia  Magazines  and  their  Con 
tributors.  Philadelphia,  1892. 

Southern  Literary  Messenger,  The.  Ed.  by  Edgar  Allan  Poe. 
Vol.  II.,  Richmond,  1836. 


INDEX 


•   Adaptation  "  of  foreign  literature, 

108-109 

Advertising,  Neglect  of  paid,  25-26 
American   Company   of   Booksellers, 

22-23 

American   Copyright   League,    104 
American      literature,      Competition 

for   in   Great   Britain,   87 
Competition  with  that  of  Great 

Britain,    79-111 

Development  of  traced  by  study 
of    Mathew    Carey    and    suc 
cessors,   viii 
Neglect  of.   105 
Read  in   Europe,   51-53 
American    Museum,     The,    Circula- 

lation    of,   8-9 
Contributors  to,  6 
Established  by  Carey,  4 
General    character    of,    7-8 
Suspension  of,  9,   16 
American       Philosophical       Society, 

Infrequency  of  publications,  34 
American       Publishers'       Copyright 

League,   105 

Appleton,   William    H.,    On   interna 
tional  copyright,  107 
Arthur,   President,  On  international 
copyright,  104 

Baird,  Henry  Carey,  Opposition  to 
international  copyright,  107-108 

Bank  of  the  United  States,  Ques 
tion  of  renewal,  54-57 

Bartram,  William,  Popularity  of 
Travels  in  Europe,  51 

Eelknap,  Jeremy,  Advice  regarding 
the  establishing  of  a  magazine, 
4-5 

Bibles,  First  English  ones  issued  in 
America,  30 


Bibliography,   136-139 
Books,  Carrying  charges  of,   18-19 
How    distributed,    16—17,    19—23 
List    of    American    printed    in 

England,  67 

Bradford,  William,  Establishes  first 
printing  press  in  Philadelphia,  14 
Brown,     Charles     Brockden,     Intro 
duced      by      The      Columbia 
Magazine,  6 

Lack  of  early  popularity,   51 
Quoted  on  yellow  fever,  9 
British   authors,   Price  of  in  Amer 
ica,   93-94 

Bryant,    William    Cullen,    Efforts   to 
secure  international  copyrght, 
102-104 
Neglect  of  in  America,  83 

Carey,  Mathew,  Advice  to  scholars 

of  America,  34 
Aided  by  Lafayette,  3 
Attempts  to  reconcile  the  inter 
ests    of    agriculture    and    of 

manufacture,  42 
Autobiography  of,   22 
Bank     of     the     United     States, 

Activities  in  behalf  of,  54-57 
Birth  and  early  training,   i 
Book  trade,  Extent  of,  15-16 
Business    of,     How    typical    of 

entire  country,  viii— ix 
Cobbett,  William,  Dispute  with, 

10-12 

Composition,   Method  of,   70-71 
Disinterested    spirit    of,    38-39, 

58-59 

Emancipation,   Essays   on,   78 
Emigrates  to  America,  3 
Establishes,  American  Museum, 
The,  4 


140 


Columbia  Magazine,  The,  4 
Pennsylvania  Herald,   The, 

3 

Thespian  Monitor  and  Dra 
matic  Critic,  The,  9 

Fair  mindedness  of,  72 

Feelings  regarding  own  poli 
tical  activities,  45 

Financial   troubles   of,   8-9 

Firms  of  which  a  member, 
vii-viii 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  Carey  em 
ployed  by,  2 

Frankness  of,  43-44 

Greek  Revolution,  Attitude  to 
wards,  76-77 

Hibernian  Society,  Organized 
by,  73 

Importance  of  in  American 
literature,  vii,  53-54,  111-113 

Importation  laws  secured  by,  38 

Imprisoned  in  Newgate,  3 

Nullifiers,  Appeal  to,  44 

Olive  Branch,  The,  57-64 

Oswald,  Colonel  Eleazer.  Dis 
pute  with,  4 

Patriotism  of,  57-64 

Philadelphia  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  National  Indus 
try  organized  by,  38 

Philanthropy   of,    69-74 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  Opinion  of 
Carey,  46-47,  113 

Political  economy,  Contribu 
tions  to  the  science  of,  38-47 

Printing,  Amount  of  from 
1792-1799,  14-15 

Published  accounts  of,   i 

Scholarly  ventures   of,   34-35 

Service  to  American  history,  7 

Trouble  with  British  govern 
ment,  2 

Vindiciae  Hibernicae,  The,  69- 
72 

Yellow  fever  epidemic,  Carey's 
service  in,  10 


Campbell,    Colonel    Robert,    Sketch 

of  life,  8 1 

Canvassers,   Woes   of  book,    17-18 
Cartwright,   Major  John,   Sketch  of 

life,   117-118 

Charlotte  Temple,  Popularity  of,  50 
Classics,    British    printed   in    Amer 
ica,  31,  80 

Clay,  Henry,  On  international  copy 
right,    100— IOI 

Cleveland,    President,    On    interna 
tional  copyright,   104 
Cobbett,    William,    Cooperates    with 
Carey    in    behalf    of    liberty, 
12,  114-118 

Pamphlet  war  with  Carey,  10-12 
Columbia    Magazine,     The,     Estab 
lished  by  Carey,  4 
Introduces     Charles     Brockden 

Brown,  6 
Company    of    Stationers    of    North 

America,  Plan  for,   19-22 
Competition,  Effect  of  American  on 

British  literature,  93 
For    first    copies    of    American 
books  in  Great  Britain,  87-88 
For     first     copies     of     British 

novels,  86-87,   129-131 
Keenness  of  between  American 

and  British  literature,  18-19 
Constable  &  Co.,   Doubtful  business 

methods  of,  129-131 
Cooper,    James    Fenimore,    Eleanor 

Wyllis,  19 
Sales  of,  89-90 
Copyright,  Domestic,  98-99 

International,     First     examples 

of,   in   Europe,   96-98 
General  sketch  of  develop 
ment    of,    95-110 
In  America,  100-110 
Leagues,   105 
Opposition    to,    106-107 
Period  of,   98-100 
Creagh,    William    Henry,    Attempts 
to  establish  The  European,  65 


142 


Dabney,   Richard,   Sketch  of,    112 
Davidson,    Lucretia    Maria,    Sketch 

of,  90 
Davidson,   Margaret   Miller,    Sketch 

of,  90 
Daye,  Stephen,  First  printing  north 

of  Mexico  by,  13 

Dennie,  Joseph,   Disbelief  in  Amer 
ican  culture,  49 
Dickens,     Charles,     Correspondence 

of,  95,  132-135 
Sales  of  works  in  America,  94- 

95 

Dutch,    The,    Language    and    liter 
ature  in  America,  48 
Their    part    in    early   American 

culture,  32 

Dwight,     Timothy,     Contributes     to 
The  American  Museum,  7 

Ebeling,  Christopher  Daniel,  Estab 
lishes  first  regular  American- 
European  book  exchange,   52 
Interest  in  things  American,  53 
Sketch  of  life  of,  52 
Edgeworth,      Miss,      Popularity     in 

America,  80-81 
Emancipation,        Carey's        attitude 

towards,    78 
Essays   on   the  Public   Charities   of 

Philadelphia,  75-76 
Estes,      Dana,      On     difficulties     of 

American  authors,  105 
Exchange  lists,  15-17,  19 

Finlaters,  James,  Typical  book  order 

(1817)  of,  66 
Fitzsimmons,    Thomas,     Sketch     of 

life  of,  3 

Franklin,     Benjamin,     and    Andrew 
Bradford    issue   first   monthly 
magazine,   4 
Contributes    to    The    American 

Museum,  5 
Employs  Carey  as  printer,  2 


French,   The,   Language   and   litera 
ture  in  America,  47 
Their    part    in    early    American 

literature,  32 
Freneau,  Philip,  Contributes  to  The 

American  Museum,  6 
Death     Song     of     a     Cherokee 
Indian,  109 

German   language  and  literature   in 

America,  48,   79-80,   121 
Germans,   The,   Their  part   in   early 

American  culture,   32 
Germany,  American  books  in,  52-53 
International      copyright      first 

attempted  in,  97 

Great     Britain,     Beginning     of     ex 
change  with,  79 
Popularity  of  American   litera 
ture  in,   66-68 
Greek  Revolution,  Attitude  of  Carey 

towards,   76-77 

Growoll,  A.,  On  the  American 
Company  of  Booksellers,  22 

Harpers',  Opposition  to  interna 
tional  copyright,  104 

Hibernian  Society,  The,  74 

Humphrey,  Colonel  David,  Contrib 
utes  to  The  American  Museum,  6 

Importation  laws,  Inadequacy  of 
American  to  protect  American 
scholarship  and  American  books, 

37 

Irving,    Washington,    Financial    re 
turns  from  works,  91 
Interest   in  poetry  of   Margaret 
Miller  Davidson,  90 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  Reading  of,  66 
Letters  from,   122-124 

Kotzebue,  Vogue  of,  in  America,  109 
Lafayette,  Aids  Carey,  3 


Lea,    Charles    M.,    Indebtedness    of 

author  to,  ix 
Lea,     Henry     C.,     indebtedness     of 

author  to,  ix 

On  international  copyright,  107 
On  lithography,   28 
On     publication     of     American 

authors  in  England,  88 
Letters  on  Religious  Persecution,  72 
Lieber,     Dr.     Francis,     Efforts     to 
secure      international      copyright, 

101 

Literary  output,  Meagerness  of,  in 
America,  6 

Literature,  Character  of,  in  1817,  66 
New  school  of,  65 

Lithography,  First  used  in  America, 
28,  119 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  On  inter 
national  copyright,  106 

Magazine,   First  monthly  in   Amer 
ica,  4 
Tone   of  first  American,   5-6 

Matthews,  Professor  Brander,  On 
international  copyright,  96 

Matthews,  Cornelius,  Efforts  for 
international  copyright,  101 

Miller,  John,  Agent  for  British 
publications,  84-85 

Mitford,  Miss,  On  American  lan 
guage  and  literature,  67 

Morrill,  Senator  Lot  M.,  Adverse 
decision  on  international  copy 
right,  104 

Nationalism,    Growth    of    a    feeling 

of   in   America,   49-50,   65-66 
Neal,    John,    "  Appalls "    American 

public,  125-126 

As  representative  of  American 
culture  in  Great  Britain, 
66-67 

New  Olive  Branch,  The,  42 
Newspapers,     First     established     in 
America,  14 


New    York    Association    of    Book 
sellers,  23-24 
Novels,  British  in  America,  84 

First    copies    of    British,    how 
obtained,  84-86 

Olive   Branch,    The,    Popularity   of, 

62-63 
Reasons     for     its     appearance, 

57-59 

Scope  of,  59-62 

Oswald,    Colonel    Eleazer,    Dispute 
with  Carey,  4 

Paine,  Common  Sense,  6 
Pennsylvania    Herald,    The,    Estab 
lished  by  Carey,  3 
Philadelphia  and  New  York  as  rival 

literary  centers,  86 
As  center  of  culture,  14 
Opposition       to       international 

copyright,  107 
Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  Effect  of  British 

competition  on,  92 
Opinion  of  Carey,  46-47 
Review    of    Carey's    Autobiog 
raphy,  113 
Poetry,    Amount    read    in    America, 

82-83 

Political  science,  Ignorance  of  fun 
damental  laws  of,  in  first  quarter 
of  the   igth  century,  41 
Porter,    Miss,    Popularity    in    Amer 
ica,  80— 8 1 
Port  Folio,  The,  As  an  advertising 

medium,  25-26 
Printing   and    Publishing,    Attempts 

to  improve,  22-23 
Beginning  of,  in  America,  13-14 
Difficulties    of    early    in    Amer 
ica,  30 
Ethics    of    publishing    trade    in 

1791,   127-128 
Expenses  of  various   classes  at 

different  periods,  26-28 
Hazards  of  in  America,  88 


144 


Lithography  first  used  in  Amer 
ica,  28,  1x9 

Reprints  of  British  classics,  31 
Stereotyping      first      used      in 

America,  28 

Wide-spread  nature  of,   15-16 
Prospects  on  the  Rubicon,  44 
Putnam,    George    H.,    On    interna 
tional  copyright,  108 
Putnam,  George  P.,  Efforts  to  secure 
international   copyright,    101 

Radcliffe,  Mrs.,  Popularity  in  Amer 
ica,  84 

Reading,  Character  of  in  America 
at  end  of  the  i8th  and  beginning 
of  the  iQth  centuries,  31-32,  120 

Reflections  on  the  Subject  of  Immi 
gration  from  Europe,  72 

Revolution,  The,  Effect  of  on  print 
ing  and  publishing,  30 

Roche,  Mrs.,  Popularity  of  in 
America,  81-82 

Rowson,  Mrs.,  Popularity  as  an 
author,  50 

Rush,  Dr.  Benjamin,  Contributes  to 
The  American  Museum,  6 

Scholarship,  Attitude  towards  Amer 
ican,  17-18 

Extent  of  classical  scholarship 
in  America  in  1823,  35-36 

How   retarded   in   America,   30, 

33-35 

Output     of     scholar     not     pro 
tected,  35-37 
Solemn    Warning   on   the   Banks   of 

the  Rubicon,  A,  44 
Souter,   John,   Agent   for   American 
books  in  Great  Britain,  87 


South  America,  Publishing  enter 
prises  in,  68 

South,  The,  Extent  of  book  trade  in, 
15-16 

Simms,  W.  Gilmore,  Effect  of  Brit 
ish  competition  on,  93,  iio-iu 

Stationers'  Company  of  England, 
Its  organization  and  laws,  21-22 

Stedman,  E.  C.,  On  international 
copyright,  103 

Theater,     American,     Influence     of 

European  plays  upon,   109-110 
Thomas,  Isaiah,  As  a  publisher,  19 
Traveling,  Ease  and  cheapness  of  in 

America,  17 

Trent,    Professor   W.    P.,   Indebted 
ness  of  author  to,  ix 
Quoted    on    John    Neal,    83,    on 

Simms,  110— 111 

Trumbull,  Contributions  of  poetry 
to  The  American  Museum,  6 

Venice,     Early    copyright    activities 

in,  96-97 

Vindiciae  Hibernicae,  The,  69-72 
Vita,  140 

War  of    1812,   Effect  on    American 

literature,  64-65 
Washington,  George,  On  the  utility 

of  magazines,  7 

Webster,  Noah,  Asks  Carey  to  pub 
lish  Progress  of  Dulness  and 
Winthrop's  Journal,  7 
On  copyright,  99 
Publishing      arrangements      of, 
127-128 

Yellow   fever  epidemic,   9-^0 


VITA 

The  author  of  this  dissertation  received  his  secondary  train 
ing  in  the  First  Missouri  Normal,  Kirksville,  Missouri.  In  1899 
he  entered  the  freshman  class  of  William  Jewell  College,  Lib 
erty,  Missouri.  He  entered  the  University  of  Missouri  in  1900, 
and  took  courses  in  literature  under  Professors  E.  A.  Allen,  H. 
C.  Penn,  H.  M.  Belden,  Raymond  Weeks,  and  others,  receiving 
the  degree  of  B.A.  in  1903.  He  was  enrolled  in  the  graduate 
school  of  Columbia  University,  in  the  Department  of  English, 
from  1903  to  1906,  and  during  that  time  took  courses  in  Com 
parative  Literature  under  Professor  J.  E.  Spingarn,  and  in 
English  Literature  under  Professors  W.  P.  Trent,  Brander 
Matthews,  G.  R.  Carpenter,  W.  A.  Neilson  (now  of  Harvard 
University),  F.  T.  Baker,  G.  P.  Krapp,  W.  W.  Lawrence,  and 
Dr.  C.  M.  Hathaway.  He  received  the  degree  of  A.M.  in  1904. 
In  1906-7  he  was  Instructor  in  English  in  the  University  of 
Missouri.  He  took  work  under  Professor  Henry  Sweet  and 
others  at  Oxford  University  in  1907.  During  1907-8  he  was 
a  student  at  the  University  of  Berlin.  Here  he  worked  under 
Professors  Alois  Brandl,  W.  H.  Schofield  (Exchange  Pro 
fessor  from  Harvard  University),  Dr.  Delmer,  and  others. 
During  the  Summer  School  of  Columbia  University  for  1910, 
he  was  a  student  under  Professor  Harry  Ayers.  He  was 
Instructor  in  English  at  the  University  of  Illinois  from  1908 
to  1911.  In  1911  he  was  appointed  to  a  position  at  Dartmouth 
College. 


145 


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